Monkey at Heart: SRMTHFG fanfiction
by Artemis Moore
Summary: This is a SRMTHFG Fanfiction: In this story the "Monkeys" Are actually people so I bet you can kind of figure how hard this is to write XD. Anyways I tried to stick to the story line in some of the chapters and keep cannon but I have changed it a lot so it's not a direct quote to the show. (I do not own the characters, and the cover image was made on )
1. Chapter 1: The Flood

Chapter One

-2 years ago-

Eleven-year-old Chiro walked through the forest on the outskirts of Shuggazoom City, the birds almost completely drowned out by the sounds of the city which was almost a mile away from where he was walking, but the little bit of the birds he could hear was enough to make the boy smile and make him forget. Forget about his rough day at school. Forget about the abuse he received at home. Forget about another cold night sleeping outside in the doghouse outside of his parent's house.

Chiro liked the forest and often skipped school just to spend as much time as he could here. He often wouldn't even go home and would just fall asleep in one of the trees. The bullies of the school often called him a Monkey Boy, especially once they actually discovered him sleeping in one of the trees. He didn't care about the bullies though, not when he stayed in the woods far away from them, far away from all the worries of his every day.

Today was different though, the forest seemed quieter than normal and he and a feeling deep in his stomach that something was going to happen, but he was unsure of what it would be. If it would be good or bad, and not knowing this made him worry more that it actually was.

It felt like there was an invisible leash was around his neck pulling him deeper into the forest and into an area he had never been in before, an area he didn't know, yet it felt like he knew exactly where he was going and how he was going to get there.

Chiro looked around then stopped when he saw a big metal object lying on the ground in an opening. It seemed to be a large robot of some kind, that was slowly being overrun with moss but he could see that it was still in surprisingly good shape underneath all of the green.

Chiro climbed up the leg of the robot before crawling up towards the torso, soon seeing that there was an opening leading into the robot, an opening that was allowing moss and vines to grow down into the robot.

Part of Chiro felt like he needed to run away, but the rest of him said that he needed to go inside, that there was something for him inside, but he didn't know what it was. After a moment of debating with himself he climbed into the robot landing on a seat of some kind and behind that was a tunnel which was covered in dust and moss littering the floor.

He slowly crawled over the seat, before walking through the tunnel and coming to a large drop off. He hesitantly looked over the edge, when a slippery piece of moss caused him to slip and fall down the tunnel slamming him hard on the ground sending dust all around him. The young boy slowly got to his feet looking at himself, he was relieved to see that besides a couple bruises he was fine.

Chiro then began to look around curiously, seeing six large metal orbs sitting in a large circle on the floor. He went to the first orb slowly peeking through the door unable to see anything through the darkness, quickly he lost interest and went to the second one which for some weird reason the door was bent making it unopenable. He tried to open it anyways but soon gave up as he then walked to the third one. He blinked when he looked inside thinking that he was imagining things but after a second he realized he wasn't. Deep inside the third orb was a glowing blue light that was slowly fading in and out of focus.

Chiro's heart began to speed up in his chest. It felt like there was somebody inside of his chest playing the drums. Part of him was screaming for him to run away; that the light could be a signal of danger, but the rest of him was completely calm. After a moment he felt ready to go inside and find out what that feeling was. He sucked in a breath before walking in and heading over towards the slowly blinking light. It was a small orb behind a thick wall of glass, yet the orb produced enough light that he was able to see a lever in the corner.

Chiro looked at the orb for another second before he walked over to the lever dusting around it seeing an "O" above it and an "X" below it. To the 11 year old it looked like a large light switch in a way.

"A switch?" He whispered to himself, his voice echoing through the robot causing his heart to race more. He gripped the handle of the lever softly before pushing it, causing the gears in the lever to grind when there was a loud clank.

There was a flash of light startling Chiro which was quickly followed by a wave of electricity that shot through his body hitting his spine with so much force it made him feel like he was going to puke just for the pain it caused him. While he was paralyzed by the pain a green light came out of the machine and Chiro was helpless as it painlessly dug in itself through Chiro's chest then nothing but darkness surrounded him the last thing he remembered being the lights turning on.

Present Day

Chiro sat up in his bed, gasping loudly as an explosion of thunder burst outside his bedroom window, an explosion that caused fear to rip through his body. He looked out the window unable to see anything but the constant unrelenting rain pounding against the large wound.

Chiro sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep with the storm raging on outside. He kicked his legs over the edge of the bed before slipping out of his pajamas and into his everyday clothes which was a white tank top, an orange jacket, levi jeans and tennis shoes. He then made his way out of his room and through the body of the Super Robot stumbling through the darkness towards the kitchen area.

Chiro clung to the wall until he found the door to the kitchen, he then slid inside and began to feel the wall for the light switch. His hands went up and down the wall until his fingers finally managed to hit it. He sighed in relief as he flicked it and got nothing from it. He frowned and tried a few more times before giving up with an angry huff.

"Great, the powers out. What next?" He asked himself just as another burst of thunder made him jump and quickly drop down, his hands pressed up to his ears as he tried to block out the aggressive sounds from the sky.

Images of many days and nights spent cowering inside a dark doghouse flashed behind his closed eyes. He was shaking and trembling not trying to feel sick as years of abuse and torment rushed through him, making all his past scars ache and burn as though they were just given to him once again.

"Kid, you okay?" A voice asked as a hand grabbed Chiro's shoulder causing him to jump and look up at the older boy who he could only identify thanks to his glowing red eyes that was full of worry for Chiro.

Chiro cleared his throat, getting to his feet as he tried not to let his voice crack. "Yeah, I'm okay Sparx. The powers out."

"Yeah. Otto and Gibson are fixing it, shouldn't take long." Sparx said, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a flashlight handing it to Chiro.

"Thanks Sparx." Chiro said, rubbing the back of his neck as he flicked on the light, "Sorry if I startled you."

"No prob kid not your fault thunder makes you nervous." The redhead said softly punching his shoulder.

'Nervous.' Chiro laughed to himself, 'Yeah, nervous is a good word I mean it's not like I'm afraid of it or anything...'

Chiro shone the light around hesitantly making sure that the dark figure constantly haunting his nightmares wasn't watching him from the shadows. The two of them walked into the main area of the Super Robot, staying close to one another worried of getting lost in the darkness.

The others were already there; Antauri, the oldest of them was propped against a wall staying his quiet self while the only girl of the group named Nova spoke to him, getting Antauri's opinion on if she should cut her hair or not. Then there was Otto and Gibson who were under the dashboard working on getting the power working.

"I found the kid." Sparx said and Chiro smiled and waved.

"Crazy weather huh?" Chiro laughed.

"I will admit this amount of rain for this time of year is rare." Gibson said, "But not unheard of, it'll stop soon enough, until then though-" He grunted and the power turned on all around them, "We might as well have power."

The almost silent hum of the lights comforting to the leader as he flicked off the flashlight and put it down on the counter. He then looked over the group glad to see that the older ones were always there to keep him company if anything bad were to happen.

The team only had a few seconds to relax before an alarm began to scream above them. Without hesitation they ran over to the large computer monitor and after a moment Nova flicked on the outside camera and they all frowned.

"Look at all that water…" Chiro said, as he watched the footage, the water was already to the top of the Super Robot's foot, a good 20 feet in the air. "Hyper Force Go!" Chiro yelled and the group instantly ran to the six pods on the far left wall standing in their colors they were sucked up towards their stations of which they were in command of. Each station served a different purpose and had different moves. "Prepare to disengage!" Chiro called out.

The robot shot into the air splitting apart giving each team member it's own vehicle. Nova and Otto both had buggies with in closed bodies. While Antauri, Gibson, and Sparx had airplanes, leaving Chiro, the leader, with the tank.

"Okay team, split up and save as many as you can. I'll take section 12 and 11. Sparx take 10 and 9. Otto 8 and 7. Antauri 6 and 5. Gison 4 and 3. Nova take 2 and 1!" Chiro ordered and the team quickly split up going their different ways all quick in moves in order to save the civilians who lived in the city. People who couldn't protect themselves from such dangerous waves that seemed to be taking over the entire city.

Chiro tried to stay focused on the mission, but he couldn't stop the icy feeling of fear creeping through his skin; there was so much water…

He shook his head, 'No! No. Focus on saving people then you can have your break down.' He thought to himself, looking around him for people that needed his help.

After a few moments he saw a group of people on the roof of a small cafe. Carefully he pulled the tank as close to the wall as he could without hitting the wall in fear of damaging the structure.

He climbed out and onto the roof of the tank as he waved towards them, "Come on." He told the group of six, "Get in."

One by one the people jumped down to the roof and Chiro helped them down into the tank. By the time the last person climbed on the water had already gotten another foot and a half deeper.

The pouring rain soaked his clothes as Chiro shuddered, the water brushed his boot. He quickly jumped down into the now tight tank, closing the lock as a wave of water hit the tank. The force of water caused the tank to flip on it's side, slamming hard against the building Chiro had tried so hard to avoid. The tank and the force of the water caused a large chunk of the building to collapse pinning the tank.

Sirens above them began to blare loudly as a red light flashed. Chiro looked over the group glad to see that they were safe. Chiro shuddered then walked over to his seat sitting down and trying to move his tank out of the pile that held it down, but couldn't get free.

Chiro grumbled under his breath as he tapped the com on his chest. "Team, I have a problem. I'm trapped in sector 12 with 6 townspeople I need immediate assistance." He said, then pulled his hand waiting for a response. After a few moments of nothing he tried again. "Sparx, Nova, Antauri anybody read me?" Still nothing. "Great." He mumbled, "Alright I'm going to go out and push." Chiro said, handing each of the townspeople a re-breather to help if water flooded in. "Hopefully I can break us free. Keep these close in case the water rushes in. Stay down." He told them then put a breather in his own mouth and climbed up the later.

Chiro hesitated, his entire body shaking at the idea of going out into the water. The idea of being crushed between falling building debris and the tank clawed at the back of his mind followed by the thought of drowning.

"Chiro?" Mr. Gackslapper said, "Are you alright my boy?"

"Yeah, everybody brace for impact."

Chiro twisted the handle opening the hatch water instantly flooding in almost knocking him off the later. He struggled up the latter and closed the latch hoping that they would be alright with a few inches of water pooling at the bottom. He looked around remembering to breathe through his mouth instead of his nose as he then hesitantly moved his hands and arms beginning to get a small amount of movement as he walked down the tank and headed towards the smaller bits of debris holding down the front of the tank.

'If I can just get some of it off the tank should float to the surface,' Chiro thought to himself as he pressed hard against the heavy building rocks. He tried to focus on the mission, just the mission he had to ignore the fact that he was under water. As long as he didn't think about that he could do this. He pressed harder against the rock until it budged but didn't fall.

Chiro laid down on his back placing his feet against the rock pushing hard against it, kicking it again and again until finally the rocks crumpled off the front. The front of the tank jerked forward as it was freed. He clung tightly to the metal before he crawled over to the other side of the tank kicking that one the same way. Unlike the first time these ones broke away almost instantly, and once again caused the tank to jolt, this time the tank jolted with enough force that it freed itself completely and shot to the surface ripping the rebreather out of his mouth before tossing him and the tank out of the water. Gravity slammed him hard against on top of the roof leaving the boy coughing and curled up in a ball shaking in fear and cold.

After a moment Chiro regained his courage and slowly got to his feet. His knees shaking under him. Chiro then slowly climbed back into the tank and nearly falling to his knees when he hit the floor of the tank. Chiro managed to stand though, as he closed the tank hatch and climbed into the seat. He pushed the button that let the tank push through the water much like a boat would. He could only hope that they wouldn't get stuck again, because part of him knew that he would be unable to gather that much courage again. He couldn't go back out there, he couldn't go back under water. Not again.

"Chiro? Do you read?" The com chirped from his chest and Chiro quickly responded to Antauri's voice.

"I'm here Antauri."

"We have been trying to reach you, but we never got a response are you alright?"

"I'm fine, did you guys get my messages before?"

It was quiet for a moment before Antauri spoke again, "No. None of us have heard from you since we split up. Did you have any problems?"

Chiro shuddered for a second before he looked back at the group of scared towns people. "Nothing I couldn't handle Antauri, no worry. I'm going to finish my check on sector 11 then head back to higher ground."

"Alright, we'll meet you there, all of you be safe." Antauri said.

Antauri and the group had basically adopted Chiro two years ago when he found his way into the Super Robot and had been more of a father figure to the boy than his father ever had been. Antauri had taught him how to fight and use his newfound abilities over the 'Power Primate' as well as basic math skills that he would need to know if things had ever come down to that. The rest of the family helped raise Chiro though as well. Gibson taught him more advanced math as well as science. Otto taught him basic mechanical skills and how to fix things when they break. Sparx taught him how to fly and control the super robot if he ever needed to do so alone. And Nova taught him hand-to-hand combat and basic medical information incase he ever needed to patch himself up in a fast situation and nobody was there to help him do so.

Chiro sucked in a breath and began to focus more on his driving than the past as they finally hit solid ground once again and charged up to high ground where once all of them were in one place they engaged the robot turning their small vehicle into the Super Robot once again. Once all the pieces to the large puzzle was put back together Chiro led the civilians to the center area of the Super Robot where they met up with a good 40 percent of the townspeople, the other 60 percent having been out of sight.

"Chiro, are you alright?" Nova asked, "We saw your tank was all bashed up, what happened?"

"We ran into some trouble but everything turned out fine." He smiled at her, "I'm fine Nova, relax."

Nova nodded, her golden eyes full of worry for the boy, but didn't press the matter.

"Sparx, Otto make soup for everybody. Nova, Antauri and Gibson find as many blankets and pillows as you can, even some of the ones from our rooms and set up beds for everybody. Until the water recedes and the rain stops we're going to have some house guests."

The group nodded then made their separate ways leaving Chiro alone with the large group of people.

"Alright everybody listen up, anybody who feels they need medical attention please make a line in front of me, I'll do my best to clean and patch you up, if there are any doctors here please come to the front and assist me. My team is making a meal for everybody and gathering supplies for all of you to use until the rain stops. If you have any questions find me or any of my team and we'll do our best to answer what you have. All we ask is that you keep calm and not fight."

After a few moment the townspeople did as they were told, less than half of them getting in a line where Chiro and the four doctors they managed to rescue took care of them and after a moment Chiro caught a glimpse of a girl in the corner of the room, a girl who made his heart skip a beat.

She had pale skin and pink hair which were pulled into pigtails and she had a on a white and green dress that brushed her middle thighs. He was so caught up in her beauty for a minute that it took a while for him to realize that the girl was shaking and that she was soaked.

Chiro frowned, then made his way away from the doctor and line of people before going up to the girl taking off his jacket leaving him in his black tank top as he put it over her shoulders.

"Are you alright?" He asked the girl who blushed as she looked at him.

"Yes, Thank you." She said, as a small monkey jogged over to her and held her hand. "I'm Jinmay and this is Socko." She said and the monkey looked at Chiro and climbed up the boy before sitting on his shoulder tugging on his hair.

"I'm Chiro." He smiled, "Where are you from?"

Jinmay frowned and before she could answer the sirens went off once again.

"Chiro!" Antauri said over the speaker, "Come to the shoulder."

"I'll be back. Stay warm." He said, dashing away leaving his jacket with the girl as he ran to the transporter which sucked him up to the shoulder exit.

Chiro excited on the left side of the robot's neck before jogging over to the team who were standing on the edge. "What is it?"

Nova pointed and Chiro frowned when he saw it. The river was overflowing, which if much more weight was put on it the dam would burst causing the entire city to be sucked under water and possibly lost forever then none of them would stand a chance.

"Great. More water. Nova stay here and watch over the civilians." Chiro said, "The rest of us will go to the dam and patch up the cracks. Hyper Force go!"

As the group went to their pods Nova snatched onto Chiro's wrist holding him back.

"Are you sure you're alright? You've looked like you've been wanting to be sick all day." She said.

Chiro smiled, "I'm fine Nova just been a long day." He said, "But I'll be fine." He pulled his hand away and the four went down their tunnels to the stomach of super robot grabbing their rocket packs before they then flew out from the stomach exit and flew the twelve blocks to the dam which was looking worse and worse by the moment.

It took a total of ten minutes before they landed on the edge of the dam.

"Any idea's team?" Chiro asked, looking at the water as he shivered at the cold water running down his skin soaking his tanktop.

"One. Chiro and I will hold these ropes." Antauri said tying ropes around Otto and Sparx's ribs. "You two will go down and patch the cracks."

Otto nodded strapping on his metal gloves while Sparx did the same. Chiro then tied the other end of Otto's rope to his own ribcage looking at Antauri and Sparx who were working on the other side of the dam, the less deep end. Chiro wanted to argue with this but kept quiet as Otto climbed down.

Chiro looked over the edge shaking violently as he watched the water splash higher and higher on the dam with each passing moment. Typically the water was only 16 feet deep this time of the year but this year the water was closer to 60 feet deep.

He managed to calm himself down just in time for a bolt of lightning to strike a near by tree. Chiro cried out in fear as he spun around to look at the tree. This caused himself to slip and fall backwards into the water, yanking Otto down as he passed him.

"Chiro!" Antauri yelled loudly catching only the last bit of the boys scream as he hit the water.

Chiro's body hit the water directly on his back with enough speed it made him feel like he hit cement instead of the cold water. This knocked the breath out of his making him instinctively suck in a breath, another mistake for his lungs were instantly filled with water. The water clawed at his lungs feeling more like fire than water.

Chiro couldn't help but panic. All sense of reason, all the lessons of staying calm under pressure were instantly forgotten as the water swept him and Otto along. After a while Chiro lost all sense of which way was up and which way was down. He couldn't breath, he could hardly move, and now the world around him was going fuzzy.

Chiro was suddenly yanked to a stop by the rope around his waist and after a moment Chiro could feel himself being pulled along until he felt a strong arm wrap around him and he was pulled to the surface. Only then was Chiro able to catch a real breath of air and cough loudly as he clung tightly to his rescuer.

Otto held him close, tears streaking down Chiro's face as he sobbed and shook his eyes wide with terror. Chiro couldn't even budge he was so scared of sinking back in and didn't even bat an eye when Antauri and Sparx pulled him and Otto out of the water letting Chiro fall on his hands and knees on the damn, continuing to cling to Otto. His hair covered most of his face but all of them could tell that Chiro was terrified and still frozen in pure fear. He looked as scared as he felt, his body shaking uncontrollably his clothes soaked.

"Otto, take Chiro back to the Robot." Antauri said as the rain finally began to let up. "Sparx and I can handle it."

Otto didn't even bother arguing as he picked up Chiro letting the boy cling to him like a scared child as Otto then flew holding Chiro close.

"Chiro?" Otto said, but it all sounded so distant to Chiro, like his name was being called at the end of a long dark tunnel the only warmth he was getting being from his friend.

Deciding not to carry Chiro through the group of people Otto took Chiro directly to his room and set him on his desk chair. Even though he was safely in his room though Chiro didn't let go of Otto until Otto forcefully moved his hands off of him and put them down.

"Chiro. Chiro look at me. It's okay. You're safe. I'm going to get you some dry clothes." He said, then moved to the other side of the room grabbing Chiro a pair of blue and white pajama pants and a clean white tank top before he walked back over. "Chiro?" Otto still got no reply as Chiro looked directly at him, yet it seemed more like Chiro was looking right through him.

Otto's frown got more and more intense as chiro let him take off his tank top and put the dry one one. Otto then looked up as Antauri walked in shaking the water off his black hair and the second the water splashed on Chiro's skin he jumped out of the daze he was in and looked around in shock flailing his arms and accidently hitting Otto with enough force to knock him off his feet before Chiro dashed into the corner of the room his back against the wall.

"Chiro, relax." Antauri said quietly. "It's just us. Are you alright?"

Chiro looked around before calming down and closing his eyes tightly. When his eyes reopened again though they were once again full of tears as he fell to his knees his wet pants soaking the carpet.

"What happened out there?" Otto asked.

"There's… There are things I haven't told you." Chiro sniffled, "I should have told you years ago… But… I'm can't swim, and if that's not pathetic enough… I'm afraid of water. But… I know why I'm scared I just… I just can't face this one Antauri." He said, wrapping his arms around himself as he shook. "N-not this one."

-4 years ago-

Chiro shivered violently against the feeling of the winter air dancing across his skin, it had never really gotten cold enough for it to snow but this was as close as it came. He wanted to go inside and after seven days of this cold he decided it was time to ask. He had to ask.

Hesitantly the 9 year old boy got to his feet and made his way towards the back door of the house which his parents lived in. He softly tapped on the door and after a moment his mother answered the door.

"What do you want?" She asked, hands on her hips, a cigarette balancing between her lips.

"I-It's cold… can I sleep inside or just get a blanket?" He asked, "O-or even a towel?"

His mother glared but moved out of the way letting him in. He walked over into the kitchen and curled up against a wall staying out of the way as his mother angrily muttered to herself and began to munch loudly on popcorn. The smell of which was slowly making the boy sick. He hadn't eaten in days and he could feel his stomach twisting in knots at the smell of food, but he know if he said another word he would be left outside once again. He would just keep his head and eyes down and not say anything. It was either going another day without food or getting the snot kicked out of him and tossed back out into the cold. Starving didn't sound too bad with those other options.

Chiro was just beginning to fall asleep against the wall when his father returned home work. He ignored Chiro at first until he heard Chiro sniffle from a cold he was getting. That single sniffle was enough to send the quickly angered man over the edge. He grabbed Chiro by his hair yanking him to his feet before throwing him on the floor by the couch.

"What are you doing inside boy?"

"I got cold." He said softly, "I'm sorry."

"You got cold?" He asked with a mocking voice as he picked Chiro up again this time by his shirt as he drug him to the kitchen sink where his mom had been doing dishes. He then forced Chiro's head under water holding it there until Chiro felt like he was going to pass out. "Maybe this'll warm you up you spoiled brat!"

Chiro struggled, trying to push himself out of the sink but his head was pushed further under until his vision went blurry. His father then pulled the boys head out for a second letting him catch a short breath before slamming his face down into the water once again.

His father continued this torture for another hour before tossing him back outside in the cold leaving the boy alone to freeze to death. The fear of water and drowning ever implanted on the boys mind.

-Present Day-

Antauri and Otto couldn't even process what they had been told. That one night had scarred Chiro for life and despite how scared he had been he hadn't said anything to them in fear of what they would think of him. Now Chiro was curled up in dry clothes on his bed a blanket around his shoulders as he refused to make eye contact with the rest of the team, tears dripping down his face.

"Chiro…" Antauri began but couldn't think of words to comfort the boy.

"You could'a told us Chiro." Otto said, sitting at the foot of the bed, "You're our friend Chiro besides everybody is scared of something. I mean even Antauri is afraid of something." He said and Antauri nodded when Chiro glanced up at him.

Chiro sniffled, rubbing his nose. "I'm sorry you guys." He sighed, "But… can I just go to sleep?" He asked, "It's been a long day."

"Of course." Antauri said bowing softly, "Goodnight Chiro." He said as he and Otto walked out leaving Chiro alone on his bed.

After a moment Chiro sucked in a shaky breath and laid down on his bed flicking the switch which plunged him into darkness the only light in the room coming from Ranger Seven through his bedroom window. The boy slowly pulled the blanket over his shoulder and closed his eyes taking deep breaths in and out.

Chiro didn't wake up until late the next morning and by the time he did and looked out the window the water had already receided quite a bit leaving only four feet of water at the foot of the robot. Chiro got dressed in a clean tanktop and jeans before he made his way down the main area of the robot watching as the townspeople rolled up the blankets and pillows they had used the night before and got ready to continue with their own lives. Including the girl with pink hair.

Chiro attempted to make his way to her but was trapped in a bear hug by Nova.

"Chiro! I heard what happened at the dam, are you alright?"

'Did they tell her? About my dad… Please no...'

"W-w-what all did you hear?"

"Sparx told me that you and Otto were pulled under and that you almost drowned. I asked Otto and Antauri about it but they just told me you got a bump on your head and needed to sleep it off…" She said hugging him softly. "Are you alright?" She asked again.

Chiro smiled softly, glad that Antauri and Otto kept it secret before he answered. "I have a bit of a headache but I'm fine." He laughed rubbing the back of his neck. "What's going on?"

"Antauri is splitting us up into groups to help sections clean up after the flood and get back to normal. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you stayed home though." She said.

"Nah, I think some fresh air would do us all good." He said and Nova nodded slowly in understanding.

Chiro then finally pulled away from the older girl and made his way towards where he saw Jinmay and frowned when he realized she was gone, likely lost in the sea of people heading out the door being lead by Antauri and Sparx. Chiro sighed heavily before he followed the large wave of people as they made their way out of the robot and he hesitated when the water brushed the bottoms of his boots.

Chiro looked at the group ahead of them the water reaching only to their hips or their ribs on some of the shorter people. Forcing himself to be brave slowly wading into the water which quickly went to his stomach making him tense but it didn't stop, he didn't want to be seen as scared, he was a hero for god's sake if anybody saw him afraid nobody would ever trust him in protecting them ever again. He couldn't have that.

He sucked in a breath walking through the water and after a while he managed to relax slowly realizing that it wasn't as bad as he thought at first. It was just like sitting in a giant tub, and as long as his head didn't go under he would be perfectly fine. He watched over the entire group of people but kept an eye out for Jinmay he wanted to see her again. He didn't want her to just disappear on him.

"Chiro." Antauri said, "Why don't you take sector 1 and 2 this time." He said, "The flood is lesser there." he said, loud enough for Chiro to hear but quiet enough that nobody else could.

Chiro nodded, then walked to one side of the group. "People who live in between Sky and Zuro came with me." Chiro said and a group of people formed around him and frowned when he realized Jinmay wasn't one of them. He quickly shook it off and smiled softly at the group he did have. "Alright, come on."

Chiro and the large group of people slowly trudged through the water until it got lower and lower before finally stopping at his ankles.

Antauri had been right in saying the water wasn't as deep here, it was nice. What Antauri failed to mention though was that there were more buildings and more people in this area. Chiro went from building to building helping people who lived in the area clean up their homes the best he could until everybody was back in their own homes, but by that point the sun was beginning to set and his stomach felt like it was beginning to dissolve itself.

Chiro sighed, giving up the search for Jinmay for that night as he slowly made his way back to the Super Robot his knees shaking again as he got into the deeper water, which while it continued to sink down was still high enough to scare him. Each step he took the water seemed to become harder and harder to move through and the robot seemed like it was still a million miles away.

Chiro looked down in the water and gasped loudly when saw that it wasn't his reflection staring back at him but rather the face of pure evil the Skeleton King was the one looking back at him. A smug smile across the old bone bags face, a smile that plagued Chiro's nights more than his own family did. After a minute of shock he closed his eyes tightly and looked back up seeing that the reflection was once again his own.

Chiro sighed then once again began walking and soon he made it to the robot. He climbed inside and made his way up to where the rest of the team was gathered.

"Hi guys, how did it go?" He asked.

"Good, a lot of homes were destroyed but others have taken in strangers until their houses are fixed again." Nova explained.

"The city will be recovering from this for quite some time." Antauri said softly.

Chiro sat down in his chair as he closed his eyes, his hand unconsciously shaking violently.

"You okay kid?" Sparx asked making Chiro look up as Sparx pointed at his hand.

"Hu-huh? Oh." Chiro grabbed his hand quickly and smiled, "Yeah just hungry. I'm going to get something." he said, wasting no time as he walked into the kitchen away from the group.

'Come on! ' He thought angrily as he looked at both his hands. 'You're fine! It's over now so suck it up! ' Chiro sighed then snatched an apple off the counter and began to eat hoping that food would help calm his nerves. A hope that eventually came true and he was able to go back with the group his calm collected self.

Now if only he could stay that way.


	2. Chapter 2: The Girl Named JinMay

Chapter Two

-3 weeks later-

It took a total of 15 days for the city to be cleaned up of all the water and another 5 to get back to normal leaving the flood almost completely forgotten by the civilians but not by Chiro who continued to have nightmares about the close calls he had. Antauri and Otto had gone into his room countless times to calm down the boy to stop his screaming from waking up the rest of the robot.

Chiro sighed rubbing his eyes softly after another night of sleeplessness he sucked in a sharp breath as he yawned slowly becoming aware that the rest of the team was staring at him and obviously becoming more and more aware of what was happening. Not that he was afraid of water but because he was having nightmares over something and was losing sleep over it.

"What?" He said, trying not to sound grumpy.

"Well…" Nova said softly looking at Sparx.

"We're worried about you kid, you've been acting a bit strange lately."

"I'm fine. Just haven't been sleeping." He said, then continued eating his cereal as he tried to ignore the eyes on him.

"You heard him." Antauri said, "He's fine. Chiro, the rest of us are going to be taking inventory why don't you try to catch up on your sleep we don't need all hands for inventory this time." He said.

Chiro smiled, "Thanks Antauri."

After breakfast Chiro made his way to his room, kicking off his shoes before he flopped into his bed, not caring that he was still in his jeans. He was too tired to care at this point. He curled on his side slipping one hand under his pillow while the other hand was against his face.

He began to get that weightless feeling before he slowly fell into the darkness of sleep.

He seemed to be floating in darkness as he looked around. It was still completely dark for what seemed like hours before there was a speck of light that exploded into a wave of light that seemed so far away. Chiro reached for the light causing bubbles to form all around him. It was then that he realized it was happening again.

Chiro began to panic, realizing he was under water he tries to get to the surface but seems to be going only further and further away from the light. Chiro tried to scream, tried to break free of the water but his voice was caught in his throat. He began to flail when he suddenly fell slamming hard on the ground and snapped into consciousness.

He looked around realizing that he was safe in his room even though he was now on the floor tangled in his sheet. He looked at his clock and sighed, it had been less than ten minutes But that was more than he had gotten in a while.

He sighed, untangling himself from the sheets before he slipped his shoes back on and made his way down and out of the robot. He couldn't sleep, so he might as well continue the search for Jinmay who for some reason nobody had seen her since the night that he gave her his jacket.

He had no idea where to start looking for her though, he didn't know which one of the team brought her to the robot, didn't know where they picked her up from, he didn't know anything about her. Anything but a name. A name that sent his heart racing. He had only talked to her for a few minutes and now she was all he could think about.

Chiro made his way down to the pier sitting down on the deck looking at the boats in the water bringing in fish and after a moment he heard soft singing coming from the other end of the dock. He sat up quickly and looked over seeing a familiar little monkey dancing and a girl sitting down at the other end with pink hair.

Chiro quickly jumped to his feet and ran to the girl. Part of him didn't believe that he found her, and part of him even began to think it was a trap until he was right next to her.

"J-Jinmay?"

The girl looked up, a smile lighting up her face. "I found you!" She said, holding up the white jacket he had given her. "I've been looking for you for days so I could give this back."

Chiro smiled sitting at the end of the pier next to her as he pulled the jacket on his shoulders. "Thanks… I've been looking for you. How have you been?" He asked his face heating up as he caught a whiff of her Strawberry perfume.

"Good." She smiled, both completely unaware of her monkey Socko wondering away.

They sat in silence for a moment before Chiro's stomach loudly growled making them both blush softly.

"Um, do you wanna go get something to eat?" Chiro asked, "Hoverburger is open again."

"Sounds good." Jinmay said the both getting up and walking together. "So how have you been doing?" She asked, "You look really tired."

Chiro frowned and laughed, "You noticed that huh? I've been having a lot of nightmares lately, but I'm alright."

"Nightmares about what?"

"Water…"

"You're afraid of water?" Jinmay asked and Chiro nodded softly.

"Yeah." He finally admitted, "When I was younger… I almost drowned and never bothered learning how to swim is starting to cause me problems in life now."

Jinmay's stunning emerald colored eyes met Chiro's and he felt his face heat up. "I could teach you to swim if you'd like." She smiled softly, "I'm not a pro or anything but I know how to keep my head above water."

Chiro smiled back. He didn't like the idea of getting in the water but part of him felt that if he was with Jinmay everything would be alright. "Yeah, I think we can do that." He said.

"I'm just saying Antauri if you and Otto know if something is wrong with Chiro you should tell us." Nova said.

"It is not our place to tell. It took Chiro all his courage just to tell us what was wrong." Antauri said, "He will tell the rest of you when he feels the time is right, until then though we just need to be there for him in our own little world. He's a member of the team and nothing is going to change that."

"Besides, everythings fine." Otto smiled, "He's with us now and nothing bad will happen."

Nova, Gibson and Sparx glanced at eachother before Sparx sighed.

"I'm going to go check on him, it's been a few hours."

"If he's asleep don't wake him." Nova told the boy.

"Of course I won't." Sparx said, walking out of the storage area of the robot and headed towards Chiro's room.

Sparx didn't even bother knocking as he slowly opened the door and peeked in frowning when he saw the bed a mess and Chiro no where to be found. Sparx walked into the room looking around before he turned and stuck his head into the hallway looking around.

"Chiro? Where are ya kid?" Sparx frowned hearing no reply he walked through the halls checking almost area he could think of and when he couldn't find him he began to panic. Sparx pushed the com in his ear, turning it on. "Chiro, can you hear me kid?"

After a moment Chiro's voice came back, "What's up Sparx?"

Sparx sighed, "Where you at?"

"I'm at Hoverburger with a friend, why is their trouble?"

' _Chiro has friends besides us?_ ' Sparx thought then smiled, "Nah kid we were just looking for ya. Have fun." Sparx then turned off his communicator.

As soon as Sparx did so there was a loud crashing sound coming from the weapons room. Sparx tensed up and glared making his way towards the room, looking around and glaring when he saw that nothing seemed touched. Everything was still in it's place, everything was still clean.

' _You're getting paranoid Sparx. Probably just your imagination._ ' He thought to himself, then walked back out, unaware of the glowing orange eyes watching him from above.

"Was that your brother?" Jinmay asked Chiro who laughed.

"I guess you can call him that. His name is Sparx he's a member of the Hyper Force, he and the rest of the team is the closest thing to a family I've ever really come to."

"You don't have a family?"

Chiro frowned, "Not really. What about you?"

"Same, or at least I don't remember them." She smiled, then took another bite out of her hover burger.

"So then where do you live?" He asked, worried she was living on the street.

"Oh, I don't live far." She smiled, "I live in an apartment not far from here I clean for rent." She explained, "You worry too much."

Chiro blushed, "Yeah, well it's kinda my job to make sure everybody in the city is safe." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"How about the two of us meet up again tomorrow? You can go swimming in the stream you can invite your family and we can all have a picnic."

Chiro blushed darker, "Sure. I'd like that."

When Chiro finally went home he was still frozen with shock and the team instantly picked up on this.

"Are you alright Chiro?" Otto asked.

"I think… I think I have a date tomorrow." He said, his face heating up at the look everybody gave him.

"Like a date date? With a girl?" Sparx said and Nova elbowed him.

"Or boy with we don't judge."

Chiro sat down, feeling in a daze. "Her name is Jinmay and her eyes… her eyes are really green and really pretty and her hair is pink and shiny and she's so kind and she wants to go on a date tomorrow a picnic. You guys can come if you want to though." He said.

"No way kid, this is your date you get to go and have fun." Sparx laughed. "Our kid's growing up."

"Indeed." Antauri said making Chiro blush even darker.

"Come on you guys." He said, pulling the collar of his jacket up to hide his embarrassment and blushed when he realized that his jacket still smelt like Jinmay. It was amazing.

For the first time in weeks Chiro's dreams weren't filled with fear and pain and instead were full of love and fun, something he hadn't experienced in what felt like forever. Antauri checked on him a few times throughout to night and was glad to see that he was still soundly sleeping and when Chiro finally did wake up they were glad to see the happy boy they were so used to walk around.

Chiro slipped on pants over his orange swim trunks before slipping on his jacket slowly before looking into the picnic basket making sure that they had everything they would need for the lunch that he and Jinmay had planned. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest he felt like he was going to throw up but at the same time he was so excited he could hardly contain himself as his hands shook.

The idea of facing his fears made him want to cancel but at the same time the thought of seeing Jinmay again made facing his fears again worth it.

"Let's get this over with." He smiled softly to himself before he then made his way into the main area of the robot where he was instantly met with a camera flash causing him to see stars for a moment before they cleared and he was able to see the entire team standing there and Otto was holding a camera with a cheesy grin on his face.

"That ones for the books." He grinned. "Chiro's first date."

"Probably his last." Sparx laughed teasingly.

"Don't listen to him Chiro, you'll do great." Nova smiled giving him a thumbs up.

"I hope so we're going to go swimming." He said rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Got a towel?" Nova asked as Antauri and Otto looked at each other worriedly.

"Yeah it's with the blanket at the top of the basket." He smiled, "I'll have my communicator if there's any trouble call me." He said.

"Don't worry about any of that." Nova said, pushing him towards the door. "Go! Have fun!"

The second Chiro was outside the doors air locked behind him leaving him outside in the scorching heat. He then made his way towards the park where the two of them had decided to meet up for their date. He was nervous, walking almost like a robot he was so nervous.

What if she didn't like him after all? What if she blows him off? What if she laughs at him? What if he drowns? What if she drowns and he isn't able to save her?

Those last two thoughts made him feel sick to his stomach. He tried to shake it off but the rest of the walk to the park the thought clawed at the back of his mind.

"Chiro!" Jinmay called, running up to him Socko following close behind her wearing floral swim trunks while Jinmay was wearing a soft green solid swimsuit that was lower in the back than it was in the front.

"You look great." Chiro smiled at her.

"Thanks."

"Do we wanna eat first or go swimming first?" Jinmay asked as Socko tried to see what was in the basket. "Or we could just hang out if you wanna."

"Let's just hang out and eat." Chiro smiled.

The two of them worked together to lay out the blanket before Chiro and Jinmay both tossed their towels over the branch of a near by tree before they sat on the blanket. Chiro gave Socko an Apple before he and Jinmay began to munch on potato chips.

"So what do you like to do?" Chiro asked the young girl trying to ignore the stream near him.

"Well I like being with Socko at home but being out with you is really fun." She said with a blush. "What about you? What do you do during your free time and stuff?"

"Honestly I don't have a lot of free time but being with you is beginning to be something I look forward to." He laughed. "Most of the time though I'm training to control my powers or fighting bad guys."

"What kind of powers?"

"Well, they're kinda hard to explain." He laughed, "They're nothing special though don't worry about it."

Jinmay smiled before she asked, "Can you show me? Or is your family weird about that? Like… you can't use them outside of the robot or something like that."

"No, I can show you it's just hard to control sometimes." He said, but smiled gently. He stood up then walked away towards a near by dead tree. His fist began to glow green before he swung it hard. "Thunder Punch!" The second his fist made contact with the wood it shattered and the tree collapsed. He walked to the trunk doing a roundhouse kick hard against the wood. "Lightning kick!" He called out once again the wood split in half. He then turned to Jinmay who smiled and clapped.

"That's cool." She said, "Can you do more?"

"I have other moves but I'd prefer not to do them without Antauri here." He laughed gently. "Like I said they can be hard to control sometimes."

Jinmay smiled and nodded, "Sounds like you're in danger a lot." She said.

"Yeah." Chiro sat back down on the blanket, "You have no idea. It's been almost impossible to keep the fact that I can't swim a secret from the rest of the team. Because if I told them they'd treat me like a kid. I mean what kind of thirteen almost fourteen year old can't swim." He sighed.

"Oh Chiro it's okay. We all have stuff we can't do." She said, then smiled, "I'm afraid of heights so I can't climb up ladders." She said softly.

Chiro smiled, then nodded. "Well." He blushed and smiled, "L-let's get started shall we?" He laughed nervously.

"Sure." She smiled getting to her feet before she waded into the water letting Chiro take off his jacket and jeans leaving him in his swim trunks. She turned back holding her out for the scared boy and after a moment he took it letting her lead him into the water until they were both up to their thighs. "Just keep your eyes on me and remember to breathe." She smiled softly.

Chiro nodded then glanced back at Socko who was hitting the water with his hands, a grin on his face as he did so. He looked back at Jinmay and let her slowly pull him deeper into the water until they were up to their hips.

"This should be deep enough, now." She got to her knees in the water, letting it get up to her chest. "Do what I do." She let go of his hand and began to slowly move arms through the water.

After a moment of hesitation Chiro sunk down feeling like his heart was going to explode or he was going to hurl in the water, he wasn't sure which one of them yet though. He looked at Jinmay again before he began mimicking her arm movements the water hitting his neck causing his breath to often get stuck in his throat making him more and more nauseous.

Jinmay got to her feet and took his hands again. "Okay, now let me pull you through the water." She said and while Chiro wanted to argue her beautiful green eyes captivated him and he no longer felt scared as she pulled him through the water his feet behind him. "Now start kicking slowly." She said, keeping her eyes in contact with his as he began to do as he was told.

' _This isn't so bad as long as I keep focused on her I don't feel scared._ ' He thought to himself.

"I'm going to let go of your hands now, try moving them both at the same time, okay?"

Chiro nodded softly as she slowly let go of Chiro's hands. Instantly Chiro began sinking and began to frantically kick and wave his arms. It took him what felt like forever before he realized that he wasn't sinking anymore. He looked up at Jinmay who was smiling.

"Good job Chiro." She said to him.

Chiro smiled then made the mistake of looking at the water no longer being able to see the bottom thanks to all the dirt being kicked around he stopped moving his arms and instantly sank his head going under water causing water to rush into his nose giving him a burning sensation. It took less than a few seconds before he managed to stand back up still only being to his thighs panicking even harder to a point where all chances of him breathing was almost instantly washed away.

He dashed out of the water and barely made it to a bush before he lost his lunch and luckily a good chunk of the water that he had inhaled.

"Chiro! Are you alright?" Jinmay asked putting his towel over his shoulders.

Chiro wanted to yell, wanted to scream but he knew it wasn't her fault and that yelling at her wouldn't be right. He looked up at her and coughed. "I-I'm fine." He said, "I'm just not feeling too good."

"Let me back up the stuff and I'll walk you home." She said quickly.

"Yeah… I'm sorry." He rasped, still trying to get rid of the burning sensation in the back of his throat. This definitely isn't how he wanted the day to go.

Jinmay finished packing up the stuff before she kissed his head. "Chiro, it's not your fault, I should have been watching you closer, payed more attention if I felt something was wrong." She said, "Besides, your safety comes first."

Chiro blushed as Jinmay then took his hand and the two of them began walking, Socko riding in the basket in Jinmays hand while her other hand held Chiro's this time not letting him go.

The two made their way into the Super Robot and were quickly met with the team when they saw how sick Chiro looked.

"What happened?" Nova asked touching Chiro's face worriedly.

"Nothing." He said, "I'm fine. Everybody this is Jinmay." He said, holding his hand out causing everybody to stare at the girl who blushed and waved shyly.

"Hi." She said softly as Socko ran over to Nova tugging on her pants playfully.

"Aw you're adorable!" Nova said happily.

"That's Socko, I think he likes you." Jinmay smiled as Socko climbed up Nova's leg and began to play with her hair.

"Chiro, are you sure everything is alright?" Antauri asked him again as Chiro unconsciously began to press his lips together tightly trying to hold off the nausea slowly taking hold of him once again.

Chiro tried to speak but was unable to before it hit him and he took off towards the bathroom vanishing out of sight.

"I should go." Jinmay said putting down the basket. "She then smiled to the group as she took Socko. "Tell Chiro I'm sorry?"

"Why would you be sorry?" Nova asked.

"Just tell him I'm sorry I couldn't help." She said, then walked out leaving Gibson, Nova and Sparx looking at each other before looking at Antauri and Otto.

"I'm going to check on Chiro." Otto said quickly walking away and going into the bathroom.

Chiro was doubled over his head in the toilet as his body shook violently. Otto frowned sitting next to him as he rubbed his friends back.

"You alright buddy?" Otto asked and Chiro shook his head.

"I went under. I-I was doing so well but I went under and-." He coughed as another wave of acid and river water came up joining the large amount already at home in the toilet. Otto rubbed his back again waiting until the wave was finished before Chiro finished speaking. "I couldn't breathe just like back then I couldn't breathe and I panicked and it just made the entire situation… I'm so pathetic."

"Chiro it's alright. Everybody's afraid of something." He said again, "Besides as long as I'm here ain't nothing bad ever gonna happen to you again. I promise."

Chiro nodded softly before he sighed gently. "Thanks Otto." He was quiet before he spoke up again, "Can you get me a drink?" He asked.

"Sure thing buddy." Otto jumped to his feet his dishwater blonde hair falling in all directions around his head.

Chiro sniffled, flushing the toilet before he sat on the edge of the tub his head in his hands as he rubbed his nose and sniffled.

' _It's okay. Everybody's afraid of something._ ' Everybody kept saying that but nobody really understood he was the leader! He didn't have the luxury to be scared! He had to protect the team and he couldn't do that if they were always so busy protecting him.

The next morning Chiro woke up once again with nightmares, but this one different than some of the others before them. This nightmare wasn't just about drowning, this one was a dream about the Skeleton King attacking and using Chiro's weakness to water against him. He failed to protect the team and the team fell because he was too afraid to help them.

He only got a moment of peace though before the sirens of the Super Robot began screaming loudly making his heart jump into his throat. Chiro wasted no time transforming into his outfit before making his way down in the main room where the team was all beginning to gather.

"Gibson what's going on."

"A horde of Formless have gathered in sector seven."

"Seven, that's a highly populated area. Too tight for the robot, team get your packs and let's go." Chiro said.

The team ran into the weapons room each grabbing their special sets of gloves and their rocket packs before running to the chest of the robot one by one jumping out and flying quickly towards sector seven.

Sparx had a big grin on his face as he flew circles around the others. "Man I love flying!" He said, having always called himself the best pilot flying was something he was an expert at.

"Just don't fly into a tree this time." Gibson said causing Sparx blush softly.

"Hey! It attacked me first!"

Chiro laughed softly as they reached the edge of sector heading towards the center where all the Formless were fathering. However two blocks before they got there Chio's rocket pack suddenly ran out of fuel causing the boy to instantly drop out of the sky at incredible and dangerous speeds.

"Chiro!" Nova cried out.

"I got him!" Sparx called loudly, diving straight down grabbing Chiro around the waist before he landed in a near by alley setting him down. "Kid, you alright?" He asked.

"Y-yeah guess I forgot to refuel. You go ahead I'll catch up on foot." Chiro said quickly and Sparx nodded quickly flying away to catch up with the group. Chiro then took off his pack and frowned when he saw that the plug to his pick had a hole in it, causing it to have a slow leak. It was unclear how long the hole had been there but it had to be a while to completely drain it of all fuel.

Chiro shook off the idea of sabotage before he quickly took off running towards where the formless were forming. He had just gotten sight of the first formless when a large furry object suddenly latched onto his face causing him to nearly trip. Chiro grabbed the furry object and held it out seeing Socko. He was scared and ruffled up.

"Socko?" Chiro frowned looking around. "Where is Jinmay?" He asked quickly.

Socko jumped out of Chiro's grasp and quickly took off running, stopping for a second as he waved for the boy to follow him. Chiro glared and quickly followed the Monkey through tight alley ways looking all around for the girl of his dreams and after a good ten minutes of running he saw Jinmay surrounded by Formless.

"Lightning kick!" Chiro called, doing a roundhouse kick as soon as he got close enough. His foot ripped through the bodies of the formless taking the four monsters alone before he jogged over to Jinmay. "Are you okay?"

"I am now." She said happily as Chiro took her hand and began to lead her out of the Alley but was stopped when Socko walked in front of them holding his arms out.

"I'm sorry Jinmay but I'm afraid this time you and your boyfriend are not going to be okay." He said, startling both Chiro and Jinmay.

"Socko?! You can talk?!" She gasped.

"And much more." Socko purred, pulling out what looked to be a detonation device. Chiro had no time to react before the monkey pushed the button and caused explosions all around the two of them.

Chiro grabbed Jinmay pulling her close to his chest protecting the girl with his body as thousands of pounds of rubble fell down on top of them.

Antauri had a bad feeling, a feeling that seemed to be digging its way into his stomach getting stronger with each moment. He thought it would go away after Nova took out the last formless but the feeling was only made worse when the ground shook and a loud sound much like that of thunder. He as well as the rest of the team quickly turned as smoke and dust jumped into the air. Instantly Antauri knew.

"Chiro." He said.

The team wasted no time as they quickly flew to where the smoke and ash was rising from landing outside the alley as it began to clear showing a pile of rubble.

"Chiro!" Gibson called, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Chiro." Antauri said, pushing the button on his com causing a loud beeping sound to be heard from inside the rouble. Their worst fears almost instantly being realized when the sound of Chiro's communicator could be heard from under all of it.

"We gotta get him outta there!" Nova called as the team began to quickly pull rocks off of him.

It seemed impossible though, the more rocks they pulled away the more packed the rocks seemed to be packed together. The team began to panic more when more time ticked by. After twenty minutes passed Otto began to cry and hugged tightly to Nova who was struggling to stay strong but was beginning to fail.

"Chiro…" Nova sniffled loudly and after a moment the rocks began to move from the inside.

Rocks crumbled away causing the team to scatter fearfully as more and more rocks began to fall aside and to everybody's surprise they could see Jinmay slowly growing and growing more and more until she was the size of the Super Robot with Chiro in her fist. He was covered in scuffs and bruises and seemed to be in a heavy daze his head resting on her hand.

The team flew up next to Jinmay who seemed terrified of what was happening to her but at the same time was very concerned with what was wrong with Chiro.

"What am I?" She sniffled, her once light green eyes now much darker, her pale skin now grey and metallic.

"Jinmay!" Called out Otto startling the girl making her back up and hit a building startling her more.

She tightened her grip on Chiro causing him to cry out and making her gasp.

"Chiro!"

"Jinmay." He whimpered. "Team, go find Socko he's a bad guy. I'll try to calm down Jinmay."

"But-." Gibson said.

"Go!" Chiro ordered, "I'll be fine."

Antauri looked at the group who looked back at him concerned. "Go, do as he says. Find Socko and stop him, I will stay here and make sure that Chiro isn't hurt." He said.

The team didn't argue with Antauri and quickly left trying to find a small monkey in an entire city.

"Jinmay you need to relax." Rasped Chiro as he shuddered violently. "Just take deep breaths."

"Chiro what's going on?" She sniffled, "What am I?"

"I don't know what's going on, but I don't care okay? You're Jinmay and that's all I care about. You're Jinmay, a sweet innocent girl who likes extra pickles on her hover burgers, the girl who dips hover fries in her milkshakes and a girl who's eyes make my heart soar." Chiro whimpered as Jinmay opened her hand letting Chiro rest on her palm before he slowly climbed up towards and kissed her cheek. "Calm down Jinmay everything will be okay."

To both Chiro and Antauri's relief Jinmay began to slowly shrink back down to her normal size and the two were both safely on the ground. Chiro hugged Jinmay close as she sobbed against his shoulder.

"You're bleeding." Chiro said, touching her head softly her ear dripping blood that had a hit of black mixed in with it.

"You too." She smiled touching his arm that was scuffed up and bleeding.

"Are you kids alright?" Antauri asked the two of them and they both nodded.

"Where's Socko?" Jinmay asked.

"Gone." Sighed Nova, "We checked the nearest ten mile radius. We couldn't find him so he's either he's faster than we thought he was-."

"Or he had help getting off world." Gibson said softly.

Antauri glared at the ground at his feet, his arms crossed as his fingers dug into his upper arms. "Let's get back to the Super Robot." Antauri said, "Gibson I'll need you to check on Jinmay's well being and health when we get there. As well as Chiro's."

"Consider it done." Gibson said, gently leading the two children back to the Super Robot.

Antauri looked back at the rest of the group, "Let's look again for him, just in case. I suspect that Socko works for Skeleton King and was likely sent here to destroy Chiro." He said and the other nodded before they all went their own ways looking for the small monkey.

Three days later Chiro and Jinmay stood on the pier, tears in both of their eyes as they looked at eachother.

"I know you have to find out what you are and where you came from but I'll miss you." He said softly.

Jinmay smiled holding up the communicator they had given her. "Don't worry Chiro, I'll always call or leave messages on what I'm doing and where I am. I promise I'll be safe."

Chiro nodded softly hugging her tightly. "I don't wanna say goodbye."

"Then don't." Jinmay said, pulling away as she kissed his cheek. "See ya, some day." She said, then turned jogging a few feet before she jumped into the air and with the use of rockets formed in the bottom of her feet she took off flying vanishing into the sky. Chiro watched until she was out of sight before he sighed and blushed softly, touching where she has kissed him.

"I'm going to miss her." Otto said, coming up behind Chiro making the boy jump.

"Yeah, me too." Chiro smiled.


	3. Chapter 3: Girls Day

Chapter Three

"There are four formless attacking the shopping center!" Nova said, as she chased them, "I'm in pursuit!" She said as she dodged and weaved through the group of scared pedestrians all around her all of which trying to get away from the ooze monsters currently trashing the place.

She slipped on her gloves as they formed to her skin turning into two large metal fists.

"Over here!" She said, punching one of the formless causing it to go flying before slamming hard against one of the clothing racks. This attack caught the attention of the other three formless who then began to circle around her almost like bees ready to attack her.

Two of the three picked up cash registers throwing them at her, she managed to hit the first one but the second one hit her in the chest causing her to get knocked back hitting into the third one who had formed his fist into a large blade.

The blade pierced her side causing her to cry out as it went through her back just above her hip and out the front, blood dripping off the tip of it. She reached behind her pushing the monster away from her, ripping the blade out of her side before kicking it hard in the chest. The pain in her side was so intense she felt like she was going to hurl, or pass out on the floor with the two formless still watching her and getting ready to attack again.

Nova growled anger flooding through her. She put her arms out before slamming them back together causing out a loud soundwave to come from them. "Sting Ring!" She called out watching as the ooze shook before the last two seemed to melt in front of her.

Her shaking legs then gave out and she pressed her hands hard against the wound. That had not been on her list of things to do today. She slowly pulled her hand away looking at the blood she grumbled and after a moment she forced herself to get to her feet and make her way out of the mall and out into the road as the team finished with the last of the Formless.

"Gibson." She rasped, causing the blue eyed boy to quickly turn and look at him.

"Nova?" Gibson spoke up his english accent making the worry in his voice even more obvious. "Nova!" He ran over to her, "What happened?"

"Not important. Just patch me up Doc and I'll be fine."

Chiro walked over to her and frowned, "You okay Nova?"

"I'm fine." She said as Gibson knelt in front of her rolling up her shirt as he then began to examine the wound.

"I'm afraid not Nova, this wound is worse than it looks. I have to take you back to my lab and make sure that the ooze didn't poison you." He said.

"I'm sorry Nova, but you're benched." Chiro said.

"What?! I'm fine!" She insisted.

"What if it were Chiro hurt?" Antauri said and Nova tenced.

"Fine." She growled, then stormed off towards the robot.

"I'll take care of her." Gibson said.

"Thank you, as for the rest of us we'll help with the clean up of the Formless and figure out how they're trying to get into the city." Antauri said softly.

Chiro nodded, but continued watching Nova and Gibson walk away.

He was worried about the blonde girl. She kept trying so hard to be just like her brothers, but she wasn't like them. She was special. She needed to accept that.

"I like the park." Otto said as he and Chiro walked along looking for any stray Formless curiously. "It smells so nice here." He smiled.

Chiro nodded, acting like he was listening but he wasn't. Not really. He was thinking about Nova worried that she would get worse instead of better. He sighed stopping. "Otto…" He said, looking up at the dirty blonde haired boy, "Do you think Nova will be alright?"

Otto smiled, "I'm sure she'll be fine Chiro. Don't worry so much." He said.

Chiro nodded then heard a familiar sloshing sound he and Otto quickly whipped around eyes wide. There were two formless one the typical black and white but one seemed like a dark purple and white.

"I'll get the ugly one." Chiro growled, then ran towards the purple one tackling it down while Otto attacked the other.

The Formless seemed unusually weak compared to the other and was also unusually messy and completely covered the boy in dark purple goo.

"Ew." Otto said when he came over to Chiro. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Chiro laughed, "I'm fine."

"I'm telling you Nova, you need a week at least."

"And I'm telling you I'll be fine in four days just like the rest of you would be." She grumbled, crossing her arms.

"Nova that just isn't true and you know it, You're female and it's proven that the female body doesn't heal as quickly or handle pain as well as the male body does."

"Oh I see how it is, using science nonsence to justify being sexist. Nice Gibson." She growled, "I may be a girl but I can still kick your but and don't you forget it." She growled then stormed out of Gibsons lab and then going into her room, slamming the door loudly behind her.

Who was he to say what gender held up to pain better?! As far as she heard the female body could handle more! He was probably making stuff up again. Wouldn't be the first time he made shit up just to make her shut up.

She walked over to her punching bag giving it a good whack before the pain from her side hit her again. Then again maybe about the time she was going to need to heal was right. Gibson had found ooze in the wound and while he thought he got it all he wasn't sure. Last tie one of them got ooze in their wounds it got infected and they almost had to cut off Otto's left leg, luckily though his body and Gibsons special medicine helped him heal before it got too bad.

Nova then flopped down on her bed and looked at the ceiling before she reached under her pillow and grabbed out her favorite stuffed animal. A purple unicorn that just like its single horn had one eye in the center of it's head and eight legs. It was a special mix of toys that mixed creatures many feared into ones that many people adored. This one was a mix between a unicorn, a cyclops, and a spider. It had always been her favorite and it along with her other dozens of stuffed animals she often kept it hidden from her brothers in fear of judgement.

It had always been hard for her as the only girl in the team. She always tried to be the strongest, always trained, always did her best but it still never seemed enough they still treated her like she was a little girl from all those years ago. They refused to think of her as being the same age as them, even now it seemed like nothing had changed. After almost 40 years in stasis before Chiro found them and the 17 years before that they still treated her like a little girl.

Nova pulled the stuffed animal to her chest before she curled onto her good side and closed her eyes softly. She liked Chiro because he didn't treat her weak, he didn't treat her any different because she was a girl, he treated her just like he treated the boys. With respect and kindness not splitting them up because of their genders and only by the abilities needed in certain situations. He was different then all of her brothers and honestly he was like a little brother to her like Otto. She would do whatever it took to protect him.

Nova hadn't even realized she had dozed off until she heard a tap at the door. She rolled over and saw a familiar set of baby blue eyes and messy black hair peeking in.

"Chiro?" She said, sitting up and sliding her stuffed animal under the blanket. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah… I'm sorry did I wake you?" He said, "I can leave if you want-."

"No no. Come on in." She smiled, sliding over on her bed and patting next to her.

Chiro smiled closing the door behind him as he came in the sat on the bed facing her. "Are you okay? You had me really worried earlier…. I've never… I mean… I've never actually realized you could get hurt." He laughed nervously.

Her eyes softened and she smiled, "Of course I'm okay Chiro. It's only a scratch." She smiled but Chiro didn't look so sure.

"Nova?" He said after a moment.

"Yeah Chiro?"

"Do you ever wish it had been a girl who found you instead of me?" He asked sadly.

"What? No!" She said, pulling him into a hug. "You're like a brother to me Chiro, and while I may wish that there was another girl in the team I wouldn't change the way things are now. Okay?"

Chiro hugged her back and nodded.

She always forgot how easily Chiro picked up on these kinds of things. Who would have guessed he was picking up her pain and turning it on himself, like always he found a way to blame himself for what somebody else was going through.

"Well there is one thing I'd change." She said with a sniff before she waved her hand in front of her nose, "You should shower. You stink."

Chiro blushed softly, "Yeah I decided to check on you first before I took one. I'll go take one now though." He said climbing off of the bed. "See you during Dinner?"

"I wouldn't miss it." She smiled.

She sighed when Chiro left before she went over to her dresser looking in the mirror as she frowned at her reflection. Her hair long and messy having fallen out of it's ponytail during her nap leaving the blonde locks to blush the bottom rib cage. Her gold eyes were sharp and a deep gold color. She often thought about cutting her hair, thinking that it would get her the respect she craved but she enjoyed the length, she enjoyed doing stuff with it like braids and high ponytails and the occasional bun cutting it off with take away those options for her.

Nova sighed, slipping out her old blood crusted shirt before slipping on a silky orange top that was flowy and really comfortable. It also hid all the bandages under it and looked almost like a dress with her tight light blue skinny jeans and black combat boots.

She then sighed and walked out into the dining area sitting at the table looking at the head of the table where Antauri was sitting and doing crossword puzzles out of the newspaper. She then glanced in the kitchen where Otto and Sparx were preparing dinner then there was Gibson who was sitting across the table from her.

"Where is Chiro?" Antauri asked not looking up.

"Taking a shower." She said, "He should be out soon though."

As soon as Nova said that however there was a loud ear splitting scream that sounded familiar yet very very different. They all jumped up then quickly ran towards the showers where the scream came from. Instinctively Nova stopped while the boys ran into the boys shower making her frowned.

' _C-Chiro? That had to be Chiro! What happened? Is he hurt?! I need to go in! No, I could ruin everything if I go in I could embarrass him._ ' She thought to herself her heart racing in her chest so hard she felt like she going becoming light headed because of it all.

Every second that passed seemed like hours before Otto stuck his head out, a blush on his face.

"Nova? We need your help." He said.

Nova's eyes softened as she got more and more worried. She walked into the shower room and made her way to the stall that the other three boys were guarding all of them blushing, including Antauri which was rare. She glared then slowly tapped on the stall door.

"Chiro, it's me, can I come in?" She whispered softly.

"N-Nova." Chiro's voice came, but it sounded different, more high pitched and sensitive but the main thing she noticed about the voice was that it was terrified.

Nova slowly pushed opened the door and felt her heart flop nervously as she frowned. "Chiro?"

Sitting there wasn't the Chiro she remembered, the baby blue eyes and jet black hair was the same but many things had changed including the boys gender. The boy was no longer a boy anymore. He had female breasts now and his hair had grown slightly longer.

"What's happening to me?" She sniffled, tears in her eyes.

"Chiro?" Nova said again frowning as she quickly grabbed a towel off the rack and tossing it over Chiro's shoulders. "What… what happened to you?"

"I-I don't know. I was just taking a shower and... then I felt dizzy and then next thing I know I'm…" Chiro obviously didn't know how to word his situation.

"It's okay. Otto, go get Chiro some of his clean clothes." She said sticking her head out of the door and Otto quickly saluted then ran off vanishing out of the shower room.

"I should run some tests." Gibson said, "See if I can find what's wrong with him. Her… Chiro."

Antauri nodded softly. "Yes, I think that is a wise choice." He said. "Chiro, do you feel alright?" He asked, talking through the stall to the terrified teen.

"I feel the same… but at the same time I feel… like something is missing. I just haven't figured it out yet." Chiro sniffled.

"Don't worry we'll help you figure it out."

"Here ya go Chiro." Otto said, sliding a pile of clean clothes under the stall.

"Thanks Otto." Chiro said quietly as she got dressed slipping on a clean black tank top and her white and orange jacket before slipping on the jeans that seemed to drown her. She sighed letting them fall down leaving her just in boxers which also seemed huge on her but not as bad. She tugged down the jacket which fit her like a dress as she blushed.

Chiro and Nova came out of the stall a moment later a blush covering Chiro's face as she avoided eye contact with everybody.

"You're cute as a girl." Sparx said and Nova quickly kicked the redhead in the shin as Chiro sniffled softly. "I mean, don't worry kid we'll get this all figured out."

Chiro nodded as the group made their way to Gibson's lab.

"Lay down Chiro and we'll run some tests." Gibson said and Chiro nodded softly laying down on the lab bed slowly tears in her eyes as she held Nova's hand nervously. Gibson put stethoscope against Chiro's chest listening to her heart before taking her temperature. After blood-work, x-rays, and dozens of other tests Gibson sighed irritatedly. "I have run every test I know of and Chiro looks completely healthy besides the fact that he is suddenly a she. I have no explanation for what could have caused this."

"Can you fix me?" Chiro asked as she sat up slowly.

"Honestly Chiro until we find out what caused you to… Transform I'm not sure." Gibson said softly.

Chiro nodded softly, "I think… I think I'm going to go to bed… Goodnight." She said, then climbed off her feet before she then walked out of the lay and twoards her bedroom.

"What do we do now Antauri?" Nova asked quickly.

"Otto, you were with Chiro all day, did anything strange happen?"

Otto thought for a moment then said, "There was one thing. We were in the park and there was this formless it was different than the rest." He said, "It was kinda purple instead of black. Chiro fought it and it was really messy. Like messier than any of the others I had seen before." Otto explained gently. "It also smelt kinda weird, like really intense perfume."

Gibson frowned, "I'm going to check the shower see if I can find some of that ooze in the drain and hopefully I'll be able to find a cure." He said then made his way out of the lab as well.

"Why would Skeleton King create a different type of formless?" Sparx asked.

"I'm not sure but…" Antauri sighed, "The power primate seems to be weaker from Chiro now." Antauri said, "I think that maybe his transformation made it harder for Chiro to activate his powers. If we cannot either change him back or help him unlock his powers again I'm afraid the Skeleton King will take advantage of Chiro." He said, crossing his arms over his chest with a heavy frown.

Nova growled softly, "We can't let that happen." Nova said then sighed, "I'll take care of Chiro you guys find a cure for Chiro and keep an eye out for that old bag of bones. Since we don't know how long Chiro will be a girl I'm going to take… her… shopping for clothes that fit so she doesn't walk around wearing nothing but her jacket."

"Nova I don't need to remind you that you're wounded." Antauri said.

"Yeah, I know I am. But Chiro is part of the family and I'm not going to let Skeleton King hurt her-him-Chiro. We all have our ways to protect Chiro and mine is by being by her side at all times if I have to." She said, "Now, I'm going to go to bed so we can get a jump first thing in the morning."

"Alright, but if you feel anything strange with yourself or notice anything off about Chiro bring her back here immediately. We don't know how this transformation will affect her throughout time."

Nova nodded softly before she walked out and vanished into her room.

The next morning Nova went into Chiro's room and was startled when she saw Chiro curled up in bed a blanket hiding her head as well as the rest of her looking exhausted. Nova sat on the bed next to her.

"Chiro?"

"Hm?" Chiro looked over sleepily at Nova before yawning. "I'm fine." She said.

"Good, because you and I are going shopping." Nova smiled and Chiro blinked.

"Shopping?"

"Yeah, well we don't know how long you're going to be stuck as a girl so we might as well buy you some clothes that'll fit you and not fall off all the time." Nova smiled and Chiro gave a fake smirk.

"Okay." Chiro said pulling the blanket off her showing that around her eyes were red and puffy from tears and her hair was a mess.

"First things first though let's brush through that birds ness, your hairs longer than you're used to and it'll get in your way more than when you're a boy." She said, taking Chiro's hand and leading her into her room sitting Chiro at her desk. "Now, hold still and I'll get your hair out of your face."

After a good fifteen minutes of trying to convince Chiro to hold still Nova finally managed to get Chiro's hair down into a low ponytail tied back with an orange hair band. Now that Nova could get a good look at Chiro she realized that she hadn't changed much. True the shape of her eyes and the length of her hair changed but her eyes were still baby blue and her hair jet black and her face with the occasional freckle. She had gotten more of a curve to her body shape and her chest had grown along with her hips but not too drastically.

"Nova?" Chiro asked, startling the blonde. "Everything okay?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, you're just really pretty." She laughed and Chiro blushed.

"I guess this isn't so bad… as long as you're happy." Chiro said and Nova blinked curiously. "I don't like you being sad all the time."

Nova frowned, "Oh Chiro." She turned the hair and hugged the blue eyed teen. "Just because it get's boring and lonely being the only girl doesn't mean I want you to change. I like you as you, the you that makes you happy." She said, touching his face. "Gibson will find a cure soon I promise."

Chiro nodded hugging her back as she sighed.

The two soon made it to the store and it was obvious that Chiro was embarrassed and nervous about being in the girls section of the store. It made Nova want to giggle at first as Chiro covered her eyes and looked the other way whenever they passed the bra and underwear. At the same time though Chiro tried not to cling to Nova as she tried to keep a bit of her brave personality but it was clear that she was nervous.

"Chiro, relax." Nova said, "You act like you're going to pass out." She said.

"Sorry." She said, "So what all do we need?" Chiro asked quietly.

"Well your boxers are a little big but they sell girls under wear that are kind of like boxers. We'll get you a small pack of those.." Nova looked at Chiro and made her blush. "Maybe a training bra, tank tops, jeans and comfortable clothes." She said, and frowned when Chiro seemed to become more and more uncomfortable. "Tell you what, I'll buy the clothes and you can go get something to eat at the cafe over there. Once we buy it we'll get outta here and go to the park."

Chiro nodded, obviously relieved to go to the other side of the aisle. "Thanks Nova." She said, hugging her before she jogged across the aisle and sat in the cafe within eye line of the blonde.

Chiro ordered a strawberry banana smoothie that she had been craving since her transformation, it was weird but then again this entire situation was weird. She slurped up the smoothie through the straw looking across the aisle looking over at Nova who was looking at training bras. She blushed then shyly glanced down at her own chest then back over at Nova's.

Her chest was much smaller than Nova's but then again she had washed Nova's bra's once and saw that her's was a 38 DD which she guessed was another way to say 'big' and her's was tiny. A little smaller than Jinmay's was. She blushed darkly when she realized exactly what she was thinking of, causing her to suck in a breath inhaling some of the smoothie.

Chiro instantly fell into a coughing fit before she shuddered when somebody ran their finger up her spine causing her to tense up and gasp. Chiro turned quickly in the chair and blushed when she realized who it was. BT and Glenny, two people around 17 years old who had always bullied her when she was a boy but now they seemed to have a different type of mischief on their faces.

"Hey babe." BT said, "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Chiro said glancing at Nova who was comparing two different styles of bras both white and she honestly couldn't' see a difference but Nova clearly did.

"Whatcha looking at?" Glenny purred standing in front of her blocking her view of Nova.

"Nothing um, I-I should go." She said, trying to walk away when BT grabbed her hand.

"But why? We're just starting to get to know each other." He purred. "What's your name?"

"C-." She stopped, ' _Wait! If I say Chiro they could kick the snot out of me again and if I ever turn back into a boy I'll be their target forever! Think of something._ ' She smiled softly, "Chloe. My name is Chloe." She said, glancing towards where Nova was but she was still out of sight.

"Are you new in town? Where you from?"

"Yeah, um I just got in." She said.

"Who you looking for?" Glenny said, "Your boyfriend?"

"No my cousin."

"Cousin huh, is she as cute as you?" BT blinked.

"I don't know. You tell me." Growled Nova causing the two to turn and look at the blonde who had her arms crossed a bag in her hand. The two instantly backed up then took off running. "You okay, Chiro?" She wondered handing Chiro the bag.

"Yeah." Chiro sighed, "But call me Chloe." She said, "Just until I'm back to normal."

"Chloe?" Nova asked and Chiro nodded shyly.

"I like it. Ch-I mean Chloe. Come on, let's get you dressed and then we'll head out to the park."

Chiro nodded as the two of them headed back to the robot for Chiro to change.

"How was town?" Antauri asked Nova while Chiro was upstairs changing.

"Chiro was hit on and looked terrified of bra's but I think she's doing her best." Nova said then frowned, "How is the antidote coming?"

Antauri shook his head softly, "Gibson was able to find a very small amount of the purple ooze and is quickly running out. He thinks that if he can't find the cure soon he feels that Chiro may be stuck as a female forever."

"Female isn't the problem, the problem is that the power primate does in fact seem weaker in her now than it was before. If we bump into problems and need her powers we could be doomed." She sighed, "You remember how bad it hurt Chiro the first time he unlocked his powers as a male and it was easy for him to do it…. Now though when the connection is there but harder to access and have to unlock it again.. I don't think her body would be able to go through that again."

"Why the hell did Skeleton King turn him into a girl anyways, there has to be easier ways for him to not access his powers." Sparx growled.

"Probably likes seeing us chase our tails." Nova crossed her arms. "I mean think about it, Antauri has to think of ways to help chiro activate her powers without killing her and Gibson has to find a way to cure her. That's two of us distracted." Nova sighed.

Antauri nodded, "Nova, keep a close eye on Chiro. Sparx you and Otto keep an eye on the monitors and makes sure that we're not under attack." Antauri said and the two nodded quickly.

"Ready." Chiro said and Sparx blushed when he saw the younger girl, instantly resulting in Nova elbowing him again. The white tank top, and orange hoodie complimented Chiro's face and eyes and the shirt was long enough it looked almost like a dress with her grey jeans and her black boots.

"Good, let's go." Nova said.

"Go where?" Sparx asked.

"The park, there's a fair going on. Chiro and I are going to go."

"Are you sure that's a wise idea?" Sparx hissed.

"It's safer to hide in a large crowd then be out in the open in the super robot." She hissed back and Sparx nodded in understanding.

"I just don't understand this Otto." Gibson grumbled as he pulled off his glasses and rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Why is it that the Formless didn't affect you the same way it did Chiro."

Otto thought for a moment then shrugged. "I don't know."

"Let's go through it again. You and Chiro were walking through the park."

Otto nodded and closed his eyes softly. "We were walking and talking, he was worried about Nova and said something about liking the park. Then we heard the Formless coming up behind us." He said, "By the time I took down the black and white one Chiro had just finished his and I got some of the ooze on my hand. I wiped the ooze off my hand in the grass and then we headed back. I told Chiro that he needed to shower because he smelt like he took a bath in perfume. Then we came back. Then Chiro went upstairs to shower and I started on dinner."

Gibson thought for a moment. "Otto, did you wash your hands before you cooked?" He asked.

"No. I never do." Otto said, prouder than he should have.

Gibson would have been grossed out by the idea but it was that clue that made him realize what caused Chiro to change and not Otto. He jumped to his feet then ran through the robot into the shower room grabbing all the different soaps off the shelves before running back down into his lab. "Otto, get me a glass of water in this bleeker." He said holding it up, "Just normal hot water."

Otto took it and saluted before he quickly ran out of the room the beaker in hand.

"So what do you want to do first?" Asked Nova as the two of them walked through the center of the park.

Chiro looked around her eyes wide looking at everything. "Um…" She smiled, "Can we go on the roller coaster?" She smiled.

"Sure Chloe." Nova said as the two then made their way to the roller coaster which towered over the rest of the park. It was huge and amazing compared to the rest of the park making Nova happy that neither her or Chiro were afraid of heights.

It felt like hours before they finally made it to the front of the line but they eventually did make it and climbed into the seat strapping themselves into the coaster along with an army of people right behind them.

"Nova." Chiro asked as the coaster started going, she looked completely relaxed despite how high they were going. "Thanks for this, I know you're just doing it because of what's happening with me right now but it's nice to spend this time with you. Even if… you know I'm not really me."

"Chiro." She said, holding her hands. "Just because you look different I know it's still you in there. I don't care if you're a boy or girl, you're still my little brother and I love you." She said as they dropped off a large hill causing them to all scream and celebrate as their hair flew all around in their ponytails.

Nova couldn't help but laugh at the way Chiro walked once the two of them got off the ride and looked around.

"Your turn, what do you want to do?" Chiro asked.

Nova thought and looked around, "That." She said, pointing to the inflatable jousting corner. "First one to get knocked down does the others chores?"

"You're on." Chiro said, then took off running with Nova right behind her both laughing as they ran over to it.

Chiro and Nova jumped on Chiro grabbing a yellow one and Nova grabbed the orange one the two of them ready to begin.

"En Guard!" Nova said, swinging to Chiro who struggled to balance on the padded peg. She hit Chiro in the ribs making her squeal as she almost fell before Chiro hit her back careful not to hit her in the bad ribs before she then pushed against her softly.

The fight continued for a long time before Nova let Chiro knock her down. She dropped onto her back as Chiro jumped down onto the soft inflatable pad. She stumbled for a moment before walking over to Nova with a big smile.

"Good job Chloe." Nova said sitting up as she smiled. "Hungry?"

Chiro nodded and smiled as the two of them climbed off the inflatable before jogging over to the food stand ordering candy apples. After they got their food they sat down at the bench. The two talking as storm clouds rolled in.

"That was fun." Nova smiled as the two made their way back to the Super Robot before the storm began to break. Nova had began to realize that Chiro was beginning to become more and more pale as time went on.

Chiro nodded softly, her eyes casted to the sidewalk as she held Nova's hand the grip becoming looser and looser. She looked so weak and it was making Nova more and more worried about her.

Her once brilliant eyes seemed slightly more grey, her skin seemed paler, and her right hand was across her stomach.

"Chloe?" Nova asked softly. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah my stomach just feels heavy for some reason."

Nova thought, ' _Well you're a girl now and normal female girls around your age start to have 'woman events' it's probably one of those._ ' She thought softly to herself as they finally reached the robot and went into the main area of the room.

"I'm going to go get a drink." Chiro smiled then walked away.

Nova turned to Antauri quickly. "Okay um we might have a problem."

"What is it?" Antauri asked.

"I think Chiro might be on her women's cycle."

"Women's cycle?" Otto chirped from his seat.

"Her period. It's how normal girls express that they're ready for mating in a way." She said and both boys blushed, "Anyways just keep an eye on her we don't know how it'll affect her."

Antauri nodded softly.

"Can she even do that? I mean, she used to be a he." Sparx pointed out with a confused frown.

"It might be possible. I mean, we don't know what that ooze did to her. It could have completely switched her DNA to make him to completely female." Gibson pointed out rubbing his temple. He looked like he was about to open his mouth again to speak when there was a series of crashing noises from the kitchen followed by a heavy thump.

"Chiro? You okay kid?" Sparx called but there was no reply.

"Chiro?" Otto spoke up walking towards the kitchen, he froze. "Chiro!" His curious voice quickly turned into one of horror as he ran into the kitchen.

The rest of the team looked at each other before they quickly ran across the room and into the kitchen as Otto picked up Chiro holding her close to his chest. Gibson quickly ran over touching her face which was dripping in sweat.

"She's burning up. Take her to my lab." Gibson said.

Otto nodded, standing up and running into the lab the entire team right behind him watching as Otto laid her down on the bed.

"What's wrong with her?" Nova asked.

"I'm not sure yet." Gibson said as he began to draw the girls blood. "This should tell us though."

"Nova what did you guys eat?" Antauri asked.

"Popcorn, Candy Apples and a soda which we shared."

"So possible food poisoning." Antauri said as Gibson wildly typed at his computer.

"Hang in there buddy we'll get ya all fixed up." Otto said running a clean cloth over Chiro's head as she softly panted. She was shaking violently, her skin much paler than normal, dark rings around her eyes and tears dripping down from her closed eyes.

"This is messed up!" Sparx growled, punching the wall of the lab angrily. "Why him huh! Why Chiro! He's just a kid!"

"Not a normal kid Sparx, Chiro has been chosen for greatness but that also means a life full of pain and torment. I'm afraid until Skeleton King is defeated Chiro will always be a target."

"I can't believe I missed this!" Gibson said startling everybody. "I know why Skeleton King turned Chiro into a girl." He said.


	4. Chapter 4: Nightmare Realized

Chapter Four

 _ **Beep… Beep… Beep…**_

The sound of the computer's hooked to Chiro's chest and head echoed through the entire Super Robot as the team sat sadly around the once male. Two days ago the leader of the team, 13 year old Chiro had encountered a purple colored Formless that when mixed with water turned he into a she. It didn't seem to have a physical affect on Chiro until a few hours before when Chiro passed out in the kitchen with an incredibly high fever that made the entire team fear for him. And the situation was getting only worse with every passing moment.

"Well spill it doc!" Sparx said, his red eyes flicking with anger as he saw the state of one of his best friends. "Why did that bastard of bones do this!"

"To distract us. The transformation that turned Chiro from male to female was a simple distraction to keep us from realizing that the ooze was highly toxic and has soaked into her skin poisoning her. The same type of poison that I feared Nova would be fighting off from the wound in her side." Gibson explained.

"We have the cure for that though, right?" Otto jumped in.

"Yes. Yes and no. I think I was able to make the cure that _should_ cause Chiro to turn back into a young man while at the same time curing the poison… But…"

"But what, Gibson?" Antauri asked.

"I'm not sure that Chiro will be able to survive the antidote with the state that he is currently in."

"So what you're saying is that the only way to save Chiro, could just as easily kill him." Nova said, as she took Chiro's hand which was sweaty and cold to the touch.

"Exactly."

All eyes then turned to Antauri, the second in command and the 'father' to Chiro. It was all up to him now.

"Give him the antidote. We will take shifts staying awake and staying with him in case something does happen one of us will be able to help." Antauri said after what seemed like decades.

-Night 1-

Antauri Shift

Gibson frowned injecting the first small amount of the antidote into Chiro, and unlike the typical Chiro who would have whimpered Chiro even budge and just laid there lifelessly. Gibson knew that he would have to give small amount of the antidotes at a time knowing that if given the entire thing the chances of the boy surviving would drop by a good 70.4 percent. None of them wanted that at all.

"I'll take first watch." Antauri said, "The rest of you should rest. It could be a long time before Chiro wakes."

The rest of the team nodded and made their way out all hesitating as they did so.

Antauri closed his eyes softly as he put his hands on the side of Chiro's head. He knew that the Power Primate was also weak from the poison and if he could manage to repair the damage to the Power Primate then Chiro's would likely be able to become stronger, heal faster, and likely have a better chance of surviving all of this.

He sucked in a deep breath then letting it out softly. It would take while and would likely exhaust him but Chiro was worth it.

-Night 2-

Otto Shift

"I made you some food Chiro." Otto said to the unconscious teenager who was still out cold.

Chiro was beginning to look more like his male self but at the same time he was incredibly pale still, his eyes sunk and his breathing shallow. It was often like this after Gibson gave Chiro more of the antidote. Otto sat next to him putting the bowl of food next to Chiro.

"It's one of your favorites. Gibson said that you're not going to be able to eat solid food when you wake up so I made you chowder." Otto frowned when he saw no reaction, as though Chiro couldn't hear him. For all Otto knew he couldn't hear him. "Come on buddy, come back to us." He said, "I don't wanna lose you."

-Night 3-

Sparx Shift

"See Otto made you that chowder." Sparx said, "Don't worry kid I'll take it outta here and he can make you a fresh batch when you open your eyes again."

Sparx ran his fingers through Chiro's hair softly watching as the boy breathed shakily. Chiro's body had gone back to being male as a result of the antidote but his hair was still longer than it used to be, he was also much more pale than they were all used to. As Gibson said he had melted off weight and was really skinny. His healthy had dropped too, which convinced Gibson and Antauri to put an IV in his arm and a feeding tube down his throat making it look like he was already dead.

Sparx quickly shook his head. No, he couldn't think like that. Chiro would be fine. Chiro would be fine and things would go back to normal. He refused to think otherwise. Chiro was like a little brother to all of them, with a different relationship with each of them.

"We'll fix this kid, Don't you worry."

-Night 4-

Nova Shift

Nova hadn't come to visit Chiro since he had passed out but now it was hurt time to watch over him through the night. It was hard for Nova to see Chiro in this position, pale, with shallow breathing, trembling and all around looking like death. Nova put her head down next to Chiro as she held his hand. After a moment she sighed then looked at a photo the two of them took at the fair Photo-Booth but now that she looked at it Chiro looked pale even then. Had Chiro been feeling effects of the poison even then? Why hadn't he said anything?

Nova jumped when Chiro sucked in a breath as the heart monitor began to beep frantically.

"Gibson!" She called, jumping to her feet, running out of the lab letting the photo fall to the floor. "Gibson!"

-Night 5-

Gibson Shift

Gibson frowned, all these questions flowing through his head as he fought to keep everything quieted down in his head. He glanced up at Chiro who how had to have a full breathing mask, on top of the feeding tube and the IV. But despite how he physically looked the scans had shown that the poison had indeed blessed in his system and he was healing slowly but surely. Gibson pushed Chiro's hair out of his face before he smiled.

"Hang in there Chiro. Just a little longer."

-Night 7-

Chiro whimpered opening his eyes and realized he was shrouded in darkness. He sat up slowly and looked down with a gasp as the floor opened up under him dropping out from under him as he dropped quickly. He screamed loudly falling for what seemed like hours and after such a long time of falling he realized that he wasn't falling any further.

"What's going on?" Chiro said, looking down at the clouds that didn't seem any closer or any further away.

"Chiro!" Antauri's voice echoed and Chiro rolled over and looked up at him as Antauri drove towards him.

"Antauri?"

"Chiro!"

Chiro reached up for Antauri as Antauri reached for him but just before their fingers could touch each other Chiro fell further and vanished back into darkness.

-Antauri Watch-

Antauri sat up with a breath. "Damn it." He said, panting hard as he growled and looked back at the rest of the team. "No. I saw him, but I couldn't quite reach him. I will try again after I rest." He said as they all looked back at Chiro sadly.

Day 9

Chiro whimpered slowly as he opened his eyes weakly and looked around slowly. His throat hurt and felt tight thanks to a tube which was dug down his throat, it felt hurt and it took all he had not to panic, but that panic all melt away when he looked to his left. Otto was sleeping on a chair, his arms crossed and his head tilted back.

"Chiro." Said a voice causing Chiro to looked up seeing the familiar purple eyed boy.

Chiro tried to speak but once again began to panic at the feeling of the tube down his throat.

"Don't move." Antauri said, as he stuck his head out of the lab. "Gibson." he called and Gibson jogged in. "He's awake."

"Should I get up the others?" Gibson asked quickly.

"Not yet, we want to get the tube out of him first." He said and Gibson nodded before they walked over to Chiro.

After a few moments the tube was removed, along with the breathing mask and the rest of the team joined them in a lab and Otto and Jinmay woke up. Nova hugged Chiro tightly as she sobbed.

"How you feeling Chiro?" Antauri asked.

"It hurts to speak." He rasped, "What happened?"

"You transforming into a Female was a distraction to hide the fact that the ooze was a type of poison that oozed into your skin. Luckily though I managed to find a cure, though the cure was just as likely to kill you as the poison but seeing how you survived I'm glad that-."

"It's good to have you back kid." Sparx said as he covered Gibsons month.

Chiro nodded softly before he looked at Antauri. "I'm sorry if I caused any problems." He rasped.

"You have nothing to apologize for Chiro. You're often the target of these abuses and not the cause of them. Never blame yourself for the bad things you go through.

"Right." Chiro rasped.

"Are you hungry? Do you need anything?" Otto asked.

"I'm thirsty." Chiro coughed softly.

"I'll get you some orange juice!" Otto said, quickly running out happily.

"How long have I been asleep?" Chiro sniffled.

The group looked at each other before Antauri spoke. "Nine days."

"Nine days?!" Chiro sat up with a painful gasp. "What has Skeleton King been doing?"

"Relax, we've had everything under control. You just focus on healing both your physical and emotional states have been put to the test." Antauri said fixing the bed Chiro was sitting on so it sat up before putting pillows behind Chiro's back. "Once you're finished healing from the poison we'll work on training back up your body and reconnecting you with your power primate."

All together Chiro's recovery took another week before he was physically fit enough to fight without collapsing in a pile of vomit, which Gibson said was his body getting rid of the rest of the toxins in his body. All of the team members watched over him but Nova had a different look about it, instead of a look of encouragement it was a look of regret obviously from her blaming her for what happened.

"Nova." Chiro smiled, "Why don't we go on patrol together?" He smiled, "I could use some fresh air."

Nova frowned. "I dunno Chiro." She said nervously.

"Come on you and I both know you hate being cooped up in the robot all the time, you have to be going just as stir crazy as I am."

Nova thought before she smiled, "Alright." She said, wanna take the packs or the tanks?"

"Packs for sure." Chiro smiled.

"Okay, just make sure that your pack is secure… I don't wanna see you crash again." She said and Chiro nodded.

"Don't worry Chiro, I fixed it for ya." Smiled Otto, "Checked it myself refilled it's fuel tank and got it all ready for ya."

"Thanks Otto." Chiro said, as Otto handed it to him and helped him get strapped in securely.

"Keep an eye on each other." Antauri said, and keep your communicators on incase we need to contact you or visa versa."

"Yes daddy." Nova said sarcastically resulting in a chuckle from Chiro before the two of them went to the shoulders of the super robot before they took off flying into the morning sun their hair being whipped around by the slight breeze that waved between all the buildings and cooling down the fall air.

"What is it Antauri." Gibson asked when the purple eyed brother walked in.

"Pull up the city scanners in my room. I want to keep an eye on Chiro and Nova."

"I'm sure they're alright." Gibson said, "I mean sure things have gotten rough lately but I'm sure Chiro will be alright."

"It's not Chiro I'm worried about. I have had a feeling that we are all being watched lately, I want to try and figure out where that feeling can be coming from. Now please. Cast the security camera's on the television in my room."

Gibson glared, "You have feeling it as well?"

Antauri blinked but nodded slightly. "Yes, and I suspect this is the work of others besides the Skeleton King but I cannot be sure."

"Alright, I'll cast the live camera's to your t.v. then run facial recognition on the civilians around our recent fights."Gibson said, "See if I can find a common thread."

"Thank you old friend." He said, then walked out of the lab and vanished into his room.

Nova smiled slightly, enjoying the feeling of the cool breeze dancing across her skin, making sure to often glance at Chiro in case he began to show signs that he wasn't doing good. Any sign and she was going to take him back, she wasn't going to let him get that sick again while she is blind to it.

"Formless." Chiro growled as he stopped and Nova looked down at the small group of formless in an alley. "Come on."

"Chiro wait, are you-."

"I'm fine, come on." He said, then flew down quickly and Nova quickly landed next to him.

"Hey ugly! Over here!" Chiro said running at one of the formless before holding out his hand letting a bright orange yellow lightning bolt form in his hand. "Chiro Spearo!" He called, as the bolt shot through one of the formless causing it to burst and splat on the ground.

Nova smiled softly before she punched one of the other formless. "Knuckle Duster!" She said, hitting the formless with enough force that it went flying and exploded on the far wall.

"Tag team attack!" The two yelled as Nova grabbed Chiro's wrists swinging him giving him the momentum to cut the last two formless with his feet leaving multiple puddles of ooze.

Chiro high-fived Nova who smiled.

"Guess I should stop worrying about you so much." She said softly and Chiro laughed.

"Told you." He smiled.

The town of them continued patrol with no problems when they encountered two other small groups of Formless but eventually Chiro did begin to look tired from all the fighting which hadn't done in a very long time.

"Let's go home." Nova said, taking his hand as the two began to fly again. "You may be able to fight but you should still take it easy."

Chiro nodded, then smiled, "Nova thanks for helping me while I was a girl, I don't think I could have taken being the only girl, now I kind of understand what you go through. I mean you feel like you have to look and act stronger than the boys. You feel like you're one step behind, but you know…" He smiled, "You'll always be number one in my book." He said and Nova blushed as tears formed in her eyes.

"I love you too Chiro." She said.


	5. Chapter 5: The Man Named Krinkle

Chapter Five

 _ **Journal Entry 453:**_

 _ **Once again the Hyper Force has managed to defeat all my mechanical menaces yet despite how much I do for them they still ignore my existence. I'm beginning to suspect they don't appreciate me. No. That can't be it, you're just thinking stupid things. I simply haven't proven myself yet. Yeah, that's it.**_

 _ **Chiro, I see right through y, you're a child who feels the need to be lead. That has to be it. You're looking for my attention. And you have it, once I prove myself to the rest of the Hyper Force I will be by your side at all times. I will never leave you Chiro. Never ever.**_

"And I'm saying you can't make a 90 degree turn in only six seconds. Going from horizontal to vertical is extremely dangerous if not impossible." Gibson argued with Sparx both of which were playing a board game and getting very heated over it.

"I can and I will."

Things had calmed down a lot since Chiro had healed and things were now getting back to a sense of normal. Normal with the occasional monster attack but those weren't out of the ordinary in Shuggazoom, it was basically Skeleton King Attack Capital of the entire galaxy. Things other than that though had gone back to normal or even improved.

Otto now washed his hands before he cooked or did anything with food, which was Gibson's only demand of the green eyed boy. Antauri had grown more protective of Chiro but also let the boy have alone time when he needed it, even if it meant Chiro skipping the occasional training exercise. Gibson had begun to collect samples of Formless that they fought just incase something did happen to the again and they needed a cure. Nova had begin to relax and accept the fact that she liked being a girl and that just because the boys could be jerks sometimes she knew she was better deep down. Then there was Sparx who was well… the cocky and headstrong redhead he always had been.

Chiro laid on his stomach playing his video games kicking his feet slightly as he too up as much of his lazy Sunday as he could before something took his resting away from him. He was 13 after all and a 13 year old needs his video games, despite what is 'Guardians' (Antauri and Gibson) said about it. Besides he had games from last year that he had never played before and he wanted to get started on them before the world ended or something.

A sudden unseen force knocked the robot back causing the alarms to scream out and chiro to go sliding across the floor.

"What was that?!" Chiro squeaked loudly, as he switched the television to a large security camera showing a giant robot Kangaroo with five eyes outside of the robot ready to strike again. "Hyper Force! Go!" He yelled as the team quickly forgot what they were doing before making their way to their colored tubes on the wall that sucked them into their different area's of the robot.

"Foot Crusher Cruiser Six! Go!" Nova called quickly followed by Otto.

"Foot Crusher Cruiser Five! Go!"

"Fist Rocket Four! Go!" Gibsons heavy accent chirped in.

"Fist Rocket Three. Go." Sparx said, calmer than the rest of the team.

"Brain Scrambler Pilot Two. Go!" Called Antauri.

"Torso Tank Driver One! Go!" Said Chiro as the robot jumped to life and the headed into to face the robotic Kangaroo who was bouncing around one eye seeming to focus on each of the team members.

"Another one of these animal based robots, seriously?" Chiro grumbled, "First it was the Caterpillar, then the giant cat, then the dog now this thing?! Where are these things coming from!"

"Not sure but I plan to find out." Gibson said.

"Finger Rockets!" Chiro ordered as Gibson and Sparx quickly did as they were said, shooting the rockets out of the tips of the robot's fingers.

Instead of hitting the robot like they all expected though the Kangaroo managed to punch the rockets out of the air exploding each of them to produce smoke the perfect cover for it's next move, which was a hard swing with it's tail, hitting the super robot hard in the chest causing it to stumble back before hitting a building hard enough to break a good chunk of it off.

"Hey! Keep your tail to yourself ya big rat!" Sparx said as the team managed to get the robot back on it's feet.

"Eye beams activated." Antauri said, as the Robot's eyes sparked to life as a bright yellow beam shot out of the eyes and hit the Kangaroo full force knocking it back. It stumbled a few times before the robot stood up on it's tail kicking the robot hard in the chest denting the front of the robot and knocking it down before standing on top of the chest.

"Charging the Lazatron Fury." Chiro said before pushing down on the finger button.

The chest lit up a familiar light blue color before the burst of energy shot out hitting the Kangaroo sending it flying in the air before it slammed hard on the ground.

"Team, dismantle that bot!" Chiro ordered.

"Right!" Nova said, as they got the robot back to its feet and in one fail punch the fist which Sparx was in went through the Kangaroos chest and pulled out it's power source.

"Done and Done!" Sparx smiled.

 _ **Journal Entry 457:**_

 _ **The Hyper Force once again defeated my robot, I'm beginning to get frustrated but at the same time I know all the hours I've spent on each bot is just so they can see me. So they can know what I'm good at and to what lenths I'm willing to go to for them and this City. Mother doesn't like that I spend all my time on machines but what would she know, she is a machine as well after all. Who cares what she has to say.**_

 _ **In other new's Chiro's birthday is coming up soon, I wonder what he'd like. Hah, as if I don't already know. I do. I have already gotten his present and changed it enough that if I don't get what I want what he wanted will give me what I want. It'll give me Chiro and the Hyper Force at last. I just need to make a few adjustments before the day arives.**_

"What have you discovered, Gibson?" Chiro asked the glasses wearing boy.

"A signature on the powersource K.G. I'm not sure what it means but when I searched it nothing came up. I'll hopefully figure it out soon enough but until I do we should watch and see if anything with the same signature comes up." Gibson said.

Chiro nodded, "Alright, I'm going to town with Nova and Otto, do you want us to grab you anything?"

"Science 204 Magazine please." Gibson said, looking back at his experiment. "Don't let them get you into any trouble Chiro."

"You and Antauri worry too much." Chiro laughed and rolled his eyes. "Bye Gibson." He waved then walked out of the lab and into the center of the room where the yellow eyed Nova and green eyed Otto were waiting. "You two ready?" He asked.

"Waiting on you buddy." Otto smiled, jumping up and down, obviously more excited than the rest of them to go out and play in town, he always did like looking if they had new things he could collect. He always had liked collecting strange things so he was always first in line when something came in.

"Well, maybe you're gonna find something new for your weird collections." Nova laughed. "You're gonna bounce through the floor."

"I hope so." Otto smiled.

The two made their way out of the Super Robot before making their way quickly towards the center of town. Chiro was standing in between Nova and Otto who with their taller heights and intense gaze made them look like older siblings to Chiro or maybe even his parents. Once they actually got into town though Otto was jumping from stand to stand looking at everything as Chiro walked over to the magazine and action figure stand while Nova went to look at more exercise equipment.

"Hello. Chiro." Said the man behind a counter making Chiro jump.

' _Was he always there?_ ' Chiro thought to himself before smiling. "Hi." He said, "Got Science 204 magazine?" Chiro asked.

"Sure do Chiro." The man said reaching into a box and handing it to Chiro, "We also got this in." He said sliding a magazine in front of Chiro.

"No way! First edition SunRiders Magazine! These things are so rare! How did you find this! And it's still in the plastic!"

"It took many years but I found it."

"How much?" Chiro asked, almost to excited to contain himself.

"For you, nothing." He said, "But fifteen for the Science Magazine."

"Free? N-no I can't do that."

"Consider it a gift for saving the city all the time." The green eyed man said putting it in Chiro's hand.

"If you're sure." He said, reaching into his pocket and handing the money to the man.

"Have a good day Chiro." He said, waving as Chiro walked away.

"Chiro!" Otto said, coming over with a big grin on his face. "Look what I- Wait, whatcha got there?" Otto asked, seeing the plastic-wrapped magazine.

"Oh that guy-." Chiro turned to point but frowned when he saw the man and all his stuff was gone leaving just his table. "Where did he go?"

"Who?" Nova asked, with a handful of stuff in her hands.

"There was a guy who gave me these for only fifteen dollars and this Sun Riders comic goes for a fortune but he gave me this for free and I just had to pay for this!" He said, holding up Gibsons Magazine.

"He had to be insane. You say that thing goes for a fortune?" Otto asked, looking at the magazine with glittering eyes.

"Yes. And it's mine." Chiro said pulling it to his chest. "Only seven were ever made." Chiro smiled.

"You guys need anything else?" Nova asked, now cautious about the mysterious man.

"I don't know. What did the others need?" Otto asked, glancing at a nearby table.

"Antauri doesn't want anything and Sparx wanted pop rocks." Chiro said and Nova held them up. "That's everybody."

"Then I guess we don't need anything else." Otto said over his shoulder as he ran over to a table.

"Then where are you going?" Nova laughed and chased after him.

"No! I need more things!" Otto said, quickly dashing away from the yellow-eyed girl.

"Otto!"

Chiro laughed then chased after the group.

 _ **Journal Entry 458:**_

 _ **I did it! I talked to Chiro today, he was only a few inches from me. I wanted to tell him that I was his biggest fan. But I didn't want to look desperate, I have him the SunRider's comic as well as another one that he was looking for. Too bad the old man who owned the shop wouldn't just give it up, now he's stinking up my closet as he melts into the floor. Disgusting, I'll have to find a new place to keep him soon before the neighbors start to smell him.**_

 _ **I'm going to give Chiro his Birthday Present the day after tomorrow, I hope he likes it. Then again I can't see why he wouldn't. After weeks of watching his every move, following him and the team wherever they go I think I figured out what he wants yet the rest of the team continues to stay clueless. But we'll just have to see what tomorrow brings.**_

"How was the store?" Antauri asked as the three walked back in, Nova carrying Otto over her shoulder as he played with a bright green light up yo-yo.

"Just great, spent half an hour chasing Otto." Nova sighed, dropping Otto onto the floor.

"And you Chiro?"

"Great! This guy gave me a super rare addition of the SunRiders still in plastic. For free!"

"Free?" Antauri said, "Sounds like that could be sold for quite a lot of money, why would he just give it to you?"

Chiro shrugged, "I don't know but when I went to show him to Nova and Otto he was gone." Chiro smiled, "Anyways I'm going to give Gibson his magazine then go put this away." He said, then walked off.

"It's suspicious if you ask me." Nova said, crossing her arms.

"Very." Antauri said. "Anyways, did you manage to get your things for Chiro's surprise party tomorrow night?"

"Yep." Nova smiled, "Had it for a few days."

"I got mine finished yesterday."

"Good, tomorrow I will take Chiro to the park while you guys set up the event. Make sure Sparx and Gibson didn't really forget while pretending to have forgotten. We all know Chiro has never really had a real birthday party until last year, we have to make it special."

"Yeah. It's so sad that he's never had a birthday party before he met us." Otto frowned, pausing in his playing. "Really sad."

Antauri nodded, "We may not know much about his past but we can assume just by that it wasn't a good childhood."

"And we'll make it the best we can from now on." Nova said, arms crossed.

Chiro looked out the window of his bedroom looking at the city below. He loved the city so much he just wanted to protect it, but at the same time he wanted to leave to find JinMay. He sighed then flopped down on his bed in his blue and white striped pajamas as he looked at his bedroom ceiling.

 _ **Another forgotten birthday. Guess I shouldn't be surprised. just another day after all.**_

he rolled onto his side looking at his SunRider poster. "I bet you guys wouldn't forget." He sighed, then reached into his desk pulling out a toy magazine and looking at the 'action figure' he wanted so bad. He was robbed of most of his childhood, so him wanting the toy robot wasn't wrong in his mind, yet he hadn't asked. He didn't want to be a bother to the team.

There was a knock on Chiro's bedroom door, making the boy jump slightly. He quickly slipped the magazine under his pillow.

"Come in." He said, sitting up.

Antauri came in, a soft smile on his face.

"Hey, Chiro. You wanna come to the park with me?"

"Sure." He smiled, "When?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. I must go and identify plants, I could use your assistance. Besides, after that we can go see the new SunRiders movie."

"Really?!" Chiro sat up happily.

"Yeah, It's fifty percent off tomorrow only think it's a good chance to catch a movie between battles."

Chiro nodded. "Okay!"

"Alright. Make sure you're all clean and ready for a big day tomorrow." Antauri smiled, ruffling Chiro's hair slightly.

"I will Antauri. Anything else planned for tomorrow?"

Antauri thought before shaking his head. "No, nothing comes to mind. Why is there something I've forgotten?"

"Huh? Oh no just wondering."

"Very well. Goodnight Chiro."

"Goodnight Antauri." Chiro said, laying back down.

The next morning Chiro woke up to the smell of Chocolate Chip Pancakes. He sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He yawned softly and looked at the clock with a sigh. He had first thought they remembered but now that he thought about it they had BlueBerry or Chocolate Chip pancakes every second Tuesday of the month. Why would today be any different.

Chiro got out of bed, took a quick cold shower, then got dressed and joined the rest of the team down in the kitchen for the first meal of the day.

"Good morning, Chiro!" Nova said, hugging the boy tightly.

"Good morning." Chiro yawned, sitting sleepily at the table. "What are you guys doing today?"

"I have to make some repairs on the robot." Otto said.

"I have experiments that need my attention." Gibson said.

"I'm going to polish my magnets." Added Sparx.

"And I have a workout planned." Nova smiled.

"I see." Chiro said trying not to sound disappointed. "I'm going to help Antauri find rare plants in the park."

"That sounds like fun, with all the craziness lately you deserve a break."

"Yeah, I guess so." Chiro said, softly playing with his hair.

"Here ya go kid." Sparx said handing Chiro pancakes. "Eat up."

"Thanks." Chiro said, smiling softly.

"There's a smile! Now I won't have to put one on your face for you." Sparx teased.

Chiro stuck out his tongue softly. "You're weird." He said.

"What's wrong Chiro?" Otto asked.

"Nothing, just more nightmares. But hey, what's new ya'know."

"Nightmares? About what?" Gibson asked with a soft frown, sitting next to Chiro.

"Being locked up, experimented on, you name it." He sighed, "But it's not just by the Skeleton King… it's that people don't care anymore and decide I'm the enemy and that they need to figure out what makes me tick. Then there's another one… where I'm standing outside a door and this… thing comes out of it and… starts trying to kill me or something. I don't know though…"

"Hmm… maybe it's the stress from everything that's happened to you recently." Gibson said. "It's highly likely that your brain is trying to help you cope with it and it's causing you nightmares."

"Well whatever it is it'll go away on its own." Chiro said with a shrug, causing the rest of the team to look at him worriedly before looking at eachother.

Chiro and Antauri finished breakfast before leaving for the park. Chiro knew deep down that looking for plants with Antauri would be boring but he thought that maybe exhausting himself would help him fall asleep that night. He wasn't really sure about that though, it was just a hopeful thought that danced in the back of his head.

"So Antauri what plants are we looking for exactly?"

"The main one on my list is the Siribu Cat, it's a rare purple and blue flower that causes hallucinations if it's touched without protective gloves."

Chiro looked at Antauri and frowned, "but you're not wearing any gloves."

Antauri laughed, "You're right I'm not. But I'm not exactly human am I? It doesn't effect me like it would humans such as yourself."

Chiro nodded softly, he often forgot that the rest of the team were part robot, that they had metal lining their bones, oil in their blood, and a small computer on their brain making them process things faster and making them smarter than the average human. It was weird to think that he, being not only the youngest, but being completely human was the leader of this team with Antauri as his second command, and now that he was thinking about it he was self conscious. He wasn't as smart or brave as them, yet he bossed them around during fights, he got to say what was best.

"Chiro? Are you alright?" Antauri asked.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah I'm fine Antauri let's go look for that flower."

"Cake for Chiro, Cake for Chiro!" Sang Otto as he stirred the batter.

"So Sparx what did you get Chiro for his birthday?" Nova asked the redhead.

"Nothing, yet. I just want to get him something special you know."

"You do realize his birthday is today right?" Gibson pointed out, "You're running out of time."

"If it comes down to it I'll give him an IOU."

"Sparx." Nova snapped, "You did that last year and you never gave him anything! This is Chiro! Our best friend in the world who never has had a real party until we gave him one and you're going to just give him an IOU again? You're such a jerk!" She said, slamming her fist down on the table. "Now go! Find him a present right now or I will make your life miserable!"

Sparx knew that Nova wasn't kidding so he sighed and made his way out of the kitchen before going to the pods. He had just exited the door when he saw a man with green eyes and greasy black hair holding a box.

"Package for Chiro." The man said, handing the box to him.

"For Chiro? What is it?"

"A birthday present."

"You know about his birthday?"

"Of course. I'm a friend." The man said, then turned and walked away.

"Creep." Sparx whispered before looking into the box and smiled at the little toy robot. It was something Sparx figured Chiro would enjoy. "Well better than nothin'." He smiled then carried the box in where he proceeded to wrap it and put it on the table. "There, present for Chiro."

"That was fast." Nova said, "Is it an empty box?"

"No, it's a present." Sparx said shaking it softly. "Don't worry and trust me." Sparx said, crossing his arms.

 _ **Journal Entry: 459**_

 _ **The present has been delivered to the Super Robot, the red one, Sparx looked right at me. I could see he didn't remember but I know in a few days it'll be impossible for him to forget me. I am K.G. after all. The creator of machines and I will soon be the next member of the Hyper Force. Whether they want me to be or not.**_

 _ **I have to think of a way to get Chiro alone, they're going to the movies later maybe I can get him there. Yeah, I think I might just do that. Get him away from Antauri long enough to talk to him, convince him that he needs me. I will protect Chiro from the evil of the world, I won't let him get hurt. I am K.G. and I will protect Chiro even if it means protecting him from the Hyper Force.**_

"Antauri! I found it!" Chiro called from the slow stream.

Antauri jogged over and smiled, "Good job Chiro!" He said, patting Chiro's shoulder softly before he plucked the flower, roots and all and slipped it into a ziplock bag which he then slipped in a small bag. "Now that we have the flower why don't we go see the movie." He smiled, "The next show time is coming up pretty soon."

Chiro's face filled with joy as he nodded and the two made their way towards the cinema.

"Two tickets for SunRiders: The Return please." Antauri said to the man behind the register who nodded and gave them the two tickets.

"That'll be 34.58." He said boredly, chewing a piece of gum.

Antauri nodded sliding the money towards the man. "Do you want any snacks?" He asked Chiro who nodded.

"Popcorn and a soda?"

"Large popcorn, Soda and Candy combo." Antauri said, "Gummy Bears for the candy."

"Whatever." The man said, turning and handing the two their snacks. "That'll be another 12.50."

This time Chiro paid and the two made their way into the SunRider's screening room sitting on a alley-seat near the top of the seats. Chiro instantly attacked the popcorn and Soda before the end of the movie previews while Antauri enjoyed his gummy bears, something Chiro always found funny was that he liked such strange kind of candies.

" _ **IN A LAND OVERRUN WITH DARKNESS THREE HERO'S DARED TO STAND ABOVE THE REST AND PROTECT THE PEOPLE THAT THEY LOVED!"**_ The movie boomed as the lights went dark.

Chiro smiled, adjusting his sitting position before relaxing again and watching as his favorite heroes appeared on the screen.

" _ **THE LEADER: SUPER QUASAR AND HIS SOLAR HELMET PROTECT THE CITY FROM THE EVILS OF KING SHADOWMIST. AURORA SIX, THE LADY OF THE TEAM USES HER SUN GUN, GETTING THE ANSWERS SHE WANTS WITH HER BEAUTY OR FORCE DEPENDING ON THE VILLAIN THEY'RE AGAINST. AND THEN THE SIDEKICK: JOHNNY SUNSPOT, A BOY GENIUS WHO CREATES THE WEAPONS FOR THE TEAM. TOGETHER THESE THREE HERO'S MAKE UP THE SUNRIDERS, HERO'S OF THE GALAXY."**_

Half way through the movie though Chiro sighed, "I have to use the bathroom." He whispered to Antauri who nodded, "Tell me if anything interesting happens?"

"Of course." Antauri said and Chiro slid out of his seat and then made his way out of the screen room and towards the bathroom.

"Really shouldn't have had all that soda." Chiro mumbled to himself as he washed his hands.

"Hello Chiro." A man said behind Chiro making him jump and quickly turn around.

"O-Oh, hey it's you from the Magazine Stand." He said, looking at the green eyed, greasy haired man. "What's up?" He asked and the man held out his hand.

"My name is Gyrus Krinkle." He said, and Chiro shook the hand presented to him, part of him beginning to feel uneasy.

"Gyrus." Chiro said, making a mental not hoping that he wouldn't forget this man or the bad feeling he was giving him. "What's up?"

"Nothing, just wanted to say Happy Birthday." He said, startling Chiro. "The rest of the Hyper Force may have forgotten, but not me Chiro. I never forget something as important as that."

"Than-thank you Gyrus." Chiro said, realizing Gyrus still had his hand he quickly pulled it away. "W-well I'll see you around." Chiro smiled, with a wave as he quickly made his way out of the bathroom and into the screen room.

The rest of the movie Chiro could hardly focus on what was on the screen, his mind continuously turning to Gyrus and the weird feeling he gave him. Gyrus didn't scare him, per say, he just weirded him out and made him feel uneasy.

"Chiro?" Antauri said and Chiro jumped looking around to see that he and Antauri were the only ones in the screen room and the movie was over. Antauri put his hand against his head. "Do you feel alright?"

"I'm fine." He said, "Sorry I might have fallen asleep." He laughed as he stood up, both unaware of the man behind the glass, standing with the projector watching them. "Let's go home."

"Agreed. It's getting late and I suspect the team will begin to worry if we are not home before it gets too much darker."

Chiro smiled, "You're right."

"Oh, lugnuts! They're coming, guys!" Sparx yelled, quickly scrambling to hide his present.

"Get ready." Nova said, ducking behind the kitchen behind the counter as they turned off the light.

"You did very well finding that flower for me today, and now I think the others might have something for you too." Antauri's voice could be heard before the lights flicked on.

The team all jumped out from their hiding places.

"SURPRISE!" They all yelled making Chiro jump and after a minute tears filled Chiro's eyes.

"You guys remembered." He sniffled, falling to his knees. "I thought you guys forgot."

"We'd never forget, kid. You're special to us, and not just because you're our leader." Sparx said. "You're our friend, too."

Chiro sniffled as Otto climbed over the table sitting next to him. "You okay?"

Chiro nodded, "Yeah." He said, hugging Otto, "I'm just really glad you remember."

"Of course we did. We even made a cake and you've got presents." Nova said, coming over and kissing the top of Chiro's head.

"Cake?" Chiro laughed as he got up his knees trembling.

"How was the movies?" Gibson asked Antauri under his breath.

"I think something happened with Chiro, but I dunno he won't talk to me." He mumbled, both watching as Chiro looked at all the presents and stuff.

"Open mine first, kid! Open mine first!" Sparx said excitedly, setting the box in front of Chiro.

Chiro giggled, "Okay." He said, opening it slowly as his eyes widened. "No way! The Techroid 998!" He said, "How did you know?!"

Sparx looked surprised but smiled, "I just know what you like kid." he said.

"Thanks Sparx." Chiro said, looking at the toy robot with a smile.

"My turn!" Nova said, handing him a small box.

Chiro opened it and looked confused pulling out a small rock which went from brilliant pink to a deep blue and then changed shape to a perfectly round rock.

"It's a rare space gem it changes shape and color with your emotion." She smiled.

"Thanks Nova." He said, "Maybe I'll put it a necklace or something." He smiled and Nova smiled back at him.

"My turn Chiro." Gibson cleared his throat handing Chiro a box that was bigger than Nova's but smaller than Sparx's.

Chiro hesitated then looked at him, "It's not going to explode like last year is it?" He asked and the team laughed while Gibson blushed.

"No, it is not."

Chiro smiled then opened the box as he nose wrinkled and he pulled out what looked like a large worm. "A worm?"

"Wrong, a Silrinian Slug, the only slug throughout the cosmos that extreets candy." Gibson said matter-of-factly.

"Yum." Chiro said with a weak smile, "I'll try it later."

"I made mine from scratch." Otto said, pushing a button on a metal bo that opened up and showed a robotic Chiro that with a push of another button the robot Chiro punched and said, "Thunder Punch!"

"Woah!" Chiro said, fascinated by the mechanical him. "I love it!"

Antauri smiled, then reached into his bag and pulled out the flower and put it in a glass container. "And this is yours. Chiro."

"The flower?"

"Yes, it's rare and powerful, just as a young man we know." He smiled, "Just please, don't touch it." He laughed and Chiro nodded, carefully taking the glass container.

"T-thank you guys." Chiro said happily.

"Okay, time for cake!" Nova said with a grin.

 _ **Journal 451:**_

 _ **I knew Sparx couldn't be trusted. He took credit for the present I gave Chiro. Not surprising, I will punish him eventually. But the point of the present was to keep an eye on Chiro, make sure nobody tries to rip us apart. Also as I expected Chiro keeps the toy on the desk right next to his bed, it gives me a perfect view of him through the nigh I will make sure nothing bad happens to him. He can count on me to protect him. I will protect him.**_

 _ **In other news I talked to Chiro in the bathroom at the movie theatre I forgot just how stunning his eyes are. It's like the sky is trapped in his eyes hiding a flame under the blue. Don't worry Chiro, tomorrow I will see you again. Tomorrow I will save you, and you will have to accept me as a member of the hyperforce. You'll have no other choice.**_

Chiro flopped down on his bed sleepily as he stretched looking at his birthday presents which all stood on his bed, though the slug kept trying to eat the rock from it's cage so he had to keep them further apart but Chiro didn't mind. Maybe he could find where the slug came from and take it back to it's own planet. The now 14 year old pulled the blanket over his shoulder and yawned and he tried to relax managing to drift off a few hours later, but two hours later his alarm clock rang out making him jump awake.

' _Great,'_ He thought to himself, ' _Time for Training with Nova. This oughtta be fun._ ' He yawned forcing himself out of bed and to his dresser.

Chiro unbuttoned his pajama shirt and tossing it to the dirty clothes pile which was starting to get full, they would have to do laundry soon. He then grabbed a clean shirt out of the drawer slipping it on before putting on his white and orange jacket. He then took off his pajama bottoms an dput on a clear pair of jeans, followed by socks and his boots.

He yawned again walking to the slug tossing one of Gibson's food pellets to it before he left the room, yawning wildly.

"Good morning." He yawned, as he sat at the table and put his head down on the cold metal surface.

"Good morning, Chiro." Antauri said, "Did you sleep better?" He asked, getting a grunt for a reply from the boy.

"I'll take that as a no, then." Sparx said, sitting next to Chiro. "Maybe we should just knock you out; you'd sleep then."

Chiro laughed, "Yeah maybe." He sighed, then sat up the bags under his eyes almost as dark as his hair. "I'll be fine though." He promised, grabbing a banana and a glass of milk for breakfast with a yawn.

"Those bags under your eyes seem to tell a different story." Gibson said.

"Yeah, kid. Maybe you should try some concealer before you say that again."

"It's not affecting how I fight or my powers." Chiro said, "As long as I can keep doing what I do it's fine." He said.

"Hi guys." Nova said, "Ready for training Chiro."

"Yep." Chiro said, tossing the peel away before he finished his glass of milk and the two made their way into the training room.

"Okay, so what do you wanna do today?" Nova asked as she began to stretch.

Chiro yawne as he popped his shoulder, "How about hand to hand combat, we haven't done that in a while."

"Sure thing." Nova smiled, "If you think you're up for it."

"Always." Chiro smirked bending down and touching his toes. But the second he started to stand up a dizzy spell hit him making him stumble.

"Woah, you okay Chiro?" Nova asked.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah guess I'm not awake yet." He laughed, the two pairing off, as he signaled for her to attack.

Nova charged at Chiro, but she was worried about Chiro's stumble so she made a mental note to hold back. She didn't want to hurt him if he was pushing himself. Chiro however didn't seem as worried, Nova punched at him, as Chiro grabbed her fist, spinning her and throwing her across the room. Chiro then ran at her doing a front flip over the taller girl before sweeping her feet out from under her.

"Come on Nova!" He said, hands on his hips, "Get your head in the game." He said, then yawned slightly.

Nova opened her mouth to speak but before she could the alarms began to blare.

"The city is under attack!" Gibson said over the loudspeakers.

Nova and Chiro looked at eachother before quickly running to the center deck where Otto pulled up the camera.

"Ew!" Gibson shuddered, as what seemed like dozens of man sized spiders ran over the city. "I hate bugs!"

Chiro growled, "Hyper Force! Get your packs and go!" Chiro said, then quickly dashed to his orange hatch.

The others soon followed him, and not five minutes later they were flying over the spider invasion.

"Divide and conquer." Chiro said, and the team nodded splitting into a star like position.

Chiro yawned again, his vision going blurry for a second before he managed to shake it off and land in between three a happy couple and three spiders. He held up his fist then punched the ground hard. "Thunder punch!" He yelled, causing the ground to split and the spider's to tumble. "Run!" He shouted to the couple who did as they were told.

Chiro then looked back at the Spiders who had gotten back up and were surrounding him slowly. He held out his hand letting the lightning bolt form before he threw it through the head of one of the spiders. "Chiro Spearo!"

The spider bursts leaving Chiro with the two that were on either side of him. He did a roundhouse kick to the one on his right , knocking its robot head off and after stumbling around for a minute it deactivated. Chiro turned to face the last one and was shocked to see it was gone. He blinked wildly before he backed up a bit looking for it when he heard the hum of it's engine above him. Chiro looked up at the wall but it was too late as the spider spat out a web which knocked Chiro off his feet and stuck him to the ground. Besides the overwhelming smell of spray paint it wasn't too bad until the robot began to shake and electricity ran through the web.

Pain shot through Chiro as he closed his eyes tightly and screamed, trying to get out of the web. Then there was a loud clank of metal and metal, and the electricity stopped. Chiro sniffled opening his eyes and looking up at his savoir expecting one of his team he was shocked to see a familiar greasy black haired man with green eyes.

"G-Gyrus?"

"Chiro." he said, smashing the bots head again before he ran over and began to pull away the webs. "Are you alright?" He asked, helping Chiro to his feet.

"I'm fine, but how did you find me?" He asked.

"I was in the neighborhood." He said, "Guess this makes me part of the team now huh?" He said.

"Wha-what?" Chiro asked.

"I saved you, I proved myself, I'm part of the hyperforce now."

Chiro shuddered, there was that uncomfortable feeling he got from Gyrus again. "I-I'm sorry Gyrus but we're not looking for any new members… but I really appreciate the help." He smiled, his stomach twisting in not as he seemed to be angry.

Gyrus glared about to speak.

"Chiro." Antauri's voice said startling Gyrus. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Chiro smiled, then looked at Gyrus who was storming away angrily.

"Who was that."

"Just a fan who stepped in to help." Chiro said, walking over to Antauri whose hands were covered in robot oil.

"Well, I guess you needed the help." Nova said with a soft frown as she started picking web out of Chiro's hair.

"Yeah. Guess so." He shook off the feeling as the rest of the team came over having finished the robots.

"K.G." Gibson said, holding up a peice of the robot. "He's at it again." He huffed.

Chiro nodded softly, "Yeah." He crossed his arms letting Nova pick at his hair. "Otto you and I will go back to the robot and check the Shuggazoom Security Camera's the rest of you patrol and ask around, see if anybody needs help." Chiro said and the team nodded.

The team then split up, and Chiro couldn't help but worry. That guy seemed to be everywhere he went. It was super-creepy.

After three hours of examining the security camera the creepiness only added. There was four people who were at all of the K.G. attacks; BT, Glenny, The guy with the stuffed Penguin who Chiro wanted to stay was called Stan, and Gyrus. Gyrus was always in the background and was almost impossible to see unless Chiro looked really hard, but he was definitely there looking directly at the camera, as though looking right at Chiro with a smile.

"Well none of these guys look like a threat." Otto said.

Chiro nodded, ' _Otto's right, Gyrus is just a fan, he wouldn't go to all the trouble just to hang around him. Would he? No. Gyrus was human, like him. He just wanted a friend. That had to be it. And Chiro would just have to be his friend or find out first. He didn't want to fight a human person. Especially who gave him the magazine he had wanted since a boy for free._ '

"Earth to Chiro." Otto said, waving a hand in front of Chiro's face. "Come in, Chiro."

"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking sorry." He said, "Did you say something?"

"No, but you just kinda… spaced out there." Otto said with a slight frown. "Maybe you should go in and sleep."

Chiro shook his head, "No, I'm alright Otto." He smiled, then began to type on his monitor softly while Otto continued to look at the large monitors.

 **Gyrus Krinkle**

 **Clean Ops Tech Number 06751**

 **(Fired: On grounds of excessive Creepiness towards the HyperForce.)**

" **Gyrus is a harder worker and is amazing with machines, and often repairs or fixes the machines that the Clean Ops use. But he often freaks out the rest of the crew with his constant talking about Chiro and the rest of the HyperForce."**

The more Chiro read the more uneasy he felt. Gyrus was fired from his job because he was obsessed with the hyperforce and now he seemed to be showing up everywhere. No, it had to be a coincidence. Gyrus may be creepy but he wasn't a stalker or anything. Right?

"Chiro?" Antauri's voice spoke up and Chiro screamed startled as he turned towards Antauri.

"Dude! Don't do that!" He said.

"You didn't hear us come in?" Antauri asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No I didn't." Chiro blushed, turning off the monitor, "What did you guys find?"

"Nobody knows anybody with the name K.G. or any initials such as that." Antauri said, "It might be an alias but nobody know's for sure. Are you sure you're alright? You have appeared jumpy since the movie yesterday."

"I'm fine Antauri." He said again, "You need to relax."

"He's not the one jumping at his own shadow, kid." Sparx pointed out.

Chiro sighed, "I know. I know. Listen, I'm going to go to my room for a while clear my head." He said, "I'll be down before dinner." He promised.

"Try and get some sleep during that time." Antauri said, softly putting his hand on Chiro's shoulder. "It might help you."

Chiro nodded softly, "And you try to relax, all of you." He smiled, then walked to his room.

Chiro laid on his bed with a sigh, looking over at his birthday presents again. Before he softly glared, something was off. He reached under his pillow grabbing his magazine and flipping to where the Techroid was then frowned. There were subtle differences between the one he had and the one in the magazine, but the main one was that the eyes that were supposed to be blue were blood red on his toy. Frowning he picked up the toy and looked at it for a second before looking at the foot and gasping, on the bottom of the left foot said in big letters: K.G.

He was about to run out to tell the others when a gust of light purple smoke puffed out of it, and the world around him went dark.

"The city is under attack!" Antauri said as the sirens began to ring out.

"Again?!" Nova growled.

"I'll get Chiro." Otto said.

"No, he's likely asleep we can handle this on our own." Antauri said, "Hyper Force Go!"

The team all rushed out, not noticing the person slip into the building right after them.

Chiro groaned, holding his head as he forced himself up off the floor. Had he fallen asleep? No. He wouldn't have not on the floor, and he felt more exhausted than he would have been if he had fallen asleep. He whimpered and got to his feet slowly stumbling towards the room when he stepped on the techroid toy when he remembered the purple smoke and it felt like his heart stopped.

"Team." He said, then quickly ran towards the main room seeing that it was completely deserted. "Hyperforce?" He called out and there was no reply. He tapped the communicator on his chest but before he could call them a hand covered his mouth and the communicator was crushed. He struggled as a sweet smelling substance made him feel nauseous and dizzy before things went blurry but not dark.

Chiro was drug to a chair as his wrists and ankles were tied to the chair. "Gah…" He whimpered looking up as he saw Gyrus. "Gyrus?"

"Please. Rest Chiro." He said, running his hand over Chiro's face making him shudder and turn away. "We both know you haven't been sleeping well lately."

"H-how did you-"

"I know? Easy, I know everything about you. That you get your blue eyes from your mother and your hair from your father. Your birthday, your favorite show and color." Gyrus said, "Everything you do or don't want people to know, I know." He smiled, "And because I know about this, I know that you'll let me join, because you know if you don't then I will not be afraid to harm your precious little friends."

Chiro was quiet. Where was his team? Did he already have them captured? If he said no, could he be responsible for the death of his team? "You're right. Besides, a break would be nice." Chiro smiled, "How about you take over."

Gyrus smiled, "Good." He said, messing up Chiro's hair, "You're a smart boy."

"Yeah… guess so." Chiro mumbled.

Gyrus walked over to the computer leaving Chiro alone, which is what he needed. He closed his eyes trying to calm down.

' _HyperForce, trouble at the robot._ ' He thought, ' _Please, if you can hear me come home. Please come home! I need help!"_ Chir then looked up as Gyrus laughed.

"Amazing, absolutely amazing! I am in the Super Robot! I'm in the robot with Chiro!" He said, turning towards Chiro making him tense. "Do you know how long I've waited for this moment? How many days sitting in my basement watching the robot from my window? Standing on the side lines and studying your moves!" He laughed, "Chiro, we're going to be a big happy family, just like we always talked about."

"Like we always talked about?" Chiro asked, the feeling he was getting from this guy making him feel sick.

"Yes." Gyrus giggled.

"You're right." Chiro smiled, "But first we have to patrol the city." He said, "And i can't help if I'm tied to this chair." Chiro pointed out. If he could just get free he could get to the computer and call the team. Or at least buy him time to find where his team was.

Gyrus seemed unsure but after a minute he walked over to the chair, unting Chiro before pulling Chiro into a tight hug that made it feel like Chiro's ribs were going to snap.

"T-too tight; I'm gonna break." Chiro whimpered.

Gyrus dropped Chiro before running to the computer. "Now to save the city!" He said, pushing a button on his belt which caused the alarms to blare and the camera to pull up a large owl robot flying into the air.

"Wait… _you're_ K.G.?!" He said, then growled, "Gyrus heroes don't make monsters!"

"Well, you guys need something to fight, right? I'm helping you!"

"By being a bad guy!" Chiro said, as he stood up, "You can't be on both side Gyrus!" He said, then gasped as a hand clenched around Chiro's throat and he was slammed against the wall.

"How dare you! I'm a hero Chiro! I'm a hero and if it makes me killing you to prove it. I. Will." He snarled tightening his grip.

Chiro rasped digging his nails into Gyrus's hands before beginning to go limp as his vision blurred, and just before it went completely dark Gyrus dropped him, letting him suck in a breath. Chiro fell into a coughing fit as he held his throat shuddering as he tried to breathe. He then looked up and in the shadows saw different colored eyes watching from the distance. His team was here.

"Hey, creep! Get away from Chiro!" Nova yelled, running at the man.

Gyrus turned as Nova's fist made contact with his nose. There was a cracking sound as blood splashed from Gyrus's face as he stumbled back.

"Chiro! You okay?" Otto asked and Chiro nodded coughing still.

"Magnoball Blazer!" Sparx called, hitting the man in the chest with a ball of electricity which as a result caused the man to scream out then pass out on the floor.

"Chiro, are you alright?" Gibson asked, coming over and inspecting Chiro for wounds.

"I'm fine." Chiro said, "Glad you guys came."

"How did he even get in?" Otto asked as he and Sparx stood by Gyrus in case he tried anything.

"I don't know but he's K.G. the man who made all the machines."

"He doesn't look like that much of a pain." Gibson mumbled as he looked over at Gyrus.

Chiro sniffled and coughed, the bruises on his neck becoming more and more obvious by the minute.

"Come with me, Chiro. Let's see if we can't do anything for the bruising on your throat." Gibson said, helping Chiro to his feet.

"What about Gyrus?" He rasped.

"We will take him to the Ranger Seven High Security Prision once Gibson gives you a check up." Antauri said.

"Well, why not do it at the same time?" Gibson asked. "It would be much more efficient that way, and if anything comes up I will contact you immediately."

"Because, without you in Fist Rocket Four it's dangerous to go anywhere." Nova pointed out, "Besides this gives us a chance to find out if this nut bag has any family and tell them where he's going and what he's done."

"I see your point." Gibson said with a soft sigh as he led Chiro to his room.

"Sorry." Chiro said as Gibson looked at his throat.

"Don't apologize. It wasn't your fault." Gibson said.

Chiro sniffled making Gibson look up quickly as his eyes filled with tears. "I don't mean to always make you guys worry." He said, the bags under his eyes and the lack of sleep beginning to get to him as he broke.

Gibson frowned, not quite sure what to do. After a moment, he softly hugged Chiro.

"I try not to make you worry. I try to take care of myself. I try to be a good leader b-but I'm not!" He sobbed into Gibson's shirt.

"You are a good leader, Chiro. And yes, you do make us worry sometimes but very rarely is it ever your fault. And we can always help you if you need it. We'd be a terrible team if we couldn't support our leader in his time of need."

Chiro sniffled softly as he continued to hug Gibson as he tried to stop crying. Gibson began to softly run his fingers through Chiro's hair. He remembered reading somewhere that it had differing effects on humans and one of the possible effects was putting the human to sleep. Chiro definitely needed that right now.

It ended up taking an hour but eventually Chiro did fall asleep in the boys arms. Gibson laid him down before joining the rest of the team.

"Where's Chiro?" Antauri asked.

"I ended up lulling him to sleep. He's laying in his room."

Antauri nodded, "While he rests let's get Mr. Krinkle to the Prison, he should not be anywhere near Chiro. Again."

"I can't believe I didn't notice this creep before." Otto grumbled as he kicked Gyrus in the side. "He was looking right at the camera in every picture we had of him."

"Do not blame yourself, he managed to hide from all of us." Antauri said.

"Not all of us." Sparx said, "Chiro knew. And he tried to hide it."

"But… why would he try to hide it from us? Doesn't he know that we're supposed to help him?" Nova asked with a small frown.

Gibson frowned, "There's something you all need to see." Gibson said, turning to the computer and after a moment the video feed from Chiro's room and the crying fit played back.

"Aw, kid…" Sparx said softly, tears in his eyes.

Antauri frowned, looking at the live feed of Chiro as the boy tossed and turned his sleep obviously cursed with nightmares as he slept. "It appears that we have been more blind than any of us thought." He said, clearing his throat. "Let's get Krinkle to the prison then we will figure out what to do with Chiro."


	6. Chapter 6: Leader Under Attack

Chapter Six

Chiro sat up in his bed with a scream as tears flooded his cheeks. He looked around his room, before curling up in a ball as he sobbed. It has been over a week since Krinkle had been locked up and he had broken down to Gibson and while he managed to sleep more the nightmares had gotten worse. This wasn't the first time this week he had sat up and cried as his heart felt like it was going to burn out of his chest. He wanted to scream, wanted to punch a wall, but at the same time he just wanted a hug. A hug from JinMay who hadn't been heard of for weeks.

"Chiro?" Sparx said, walking into the room and saw the flushed boy his eyes softened. "You okay kid? More nightmares."

Chiro wanted to say 'I'm fine', but even that was becoming hard to say without crying even harder. Why?! Why couldn't he just suck it up! Why couldn't he just deal with this alone like he had for so many years!? Why when he was supposed to be strong he felt so weak. Chiro nodded softly, and hid his face.

"You, um… you need anything, kid?"

Chiro shook his head slowly as he laid back down and faced away from the redhead. There was things he wanted, but he didn't need anything. He just needed to get over it and go to sleep.

"Well… I'll be here if you need me, okay?"

Chiro nodded then heard Sparx leave them, letting him cry all over again as he sniffled pulling the pillow over his head.

"Chiro?" Antauri asked as Sparx came back into the room. Sparx sighed and nodded. "I see. I fear that we may have made things worse by letting him know that we knew what he said to Gibson in confidence." He said, arms crossed.

"Maybe I should create some kind of sleeping pill for him?" Gibson asked.

"We're not going to drug him Gibson!" Nova snapped, that would just trap him in the nightmare!" She growled.

"I did say that I would create it. I could engineer it so that he'd be able to wake up from the nightmare but-"

"No." Antauri said, "It's not that sleeping is the problem, it's the nightmares. His mind is trying to let something out that Chiro refuses to let out. What needs to happen is we need to get him to open up to us, to tell us what is wrong, if he doesn't tell us I fear the nightmares will continue and could get even worse."

"Worse than they are now? I don't think they could." Sparx said, crossing his arms.

"Things can always get worse Sparx, but they can also get better. When Chiro wakes up we will talk to him about his nightmares, see if we can get him to tell us more about them than he already has." Antauri said.

"If we can." Nova said with a soft frown.

Chiro came down half an hour later to the entire Hyper Force sitting in their chairs facing for him. His heart instantly jumped into his throat and he knew, they wanted answers. Answers that he wasn't sure he had.

"Take a seat kid." Sparx said.

Chiro hesitated but sat down in his chair glancing nervously around, bags still present on his face.

"Chiro, we know you've been having nightmares." Antauri began. "I think it's from something that happened in your past that you've kept hidden this entire time."

Chiro crossed his arms. "Yeah? We all have secrets." He mumbled. ' _No no no no no. This CANNOT be happening. They can't know. If they find out they'll kick me out. They'll send me away and lock me up! I'll have to share a cell with Krinkle! Oh god no._ '

"That is true, but your secrets are causing you deep internal distress." Gibson said.

"I think that if you told us, it might help with your nightmares." Antauri said.

Chiro laughed, "It's nothing you guys. You worry too much." He said, obviously trying to get out of the situation, ' _Right, what should I tell you? About my dad who tried to kill me every night or about the mom who often beat me to a pulp? The grandpa who tried to bury me alive? Or the night I tried to kill myself when I was 7. Yeah, where should I start._ '

"Kid, don't you trust us?" Sparx asked with a soft, worried frown.

"O-Of course I do." Chiro smiled, ' _I don't trust myself. If you know where I came from you would think I'm a monster. Maybe I am.'_

"Then why don't you tell us what's wrong?" Nova asked sadly.

Chiro sighed then stood up and took off his shirt turning around showing a scar that covered from his right hip to his spine. "Okay, let's start when I got this. I told you I got it when I fell out of a tree. Not true, I got it when my mom beat me with a metal pipe that cut my skin." He said then turned and moved his hair away from ear showing another scar just above it, "This is from when my grandpa hit me with a shovel and tried to bury me alive!" He began to shout at his frightened team. "How much more do you need to know?!"

The team looked at each other then back at Chiro as he slipped on his shirt.

"I'm going for a walk." He said, then stormed out of the robot.

The team looked at each other, all in shock. They knew he had a rough childhood from the little they collected and the fact that he never went home and nobody came looking for him. On top of not ever having a birthday but that. That wasn't at all what they expected, and they had only scratched the surface of his past.

"Chiro…" Nova said, as she tried not to cry.

"Why didn't he tell us?!" Sparx said.

"I'm not sure, but there are things we haven't told him."

"Like what?" Gibson asked Antauri.

"We haven't told him about Mandarin."

The group fell quiet again.

Chiro snuffled, rubbing his nose as he tried to hold back the tears and ignore the looks of the people passing him. Some people mudded "He finally realized he's not good enough to be in that team", others "Poor kid finally give up" which just made him cry harder.

" _Chiro?"_ Nova's voice came over the communicator.

Angry Chiro grabbed the device off his chest and through it hard to the ground before stomping on it. No. He wasn't in the mood to talk. He wasn't going to head back yet. He was going to walk until he reached the end of the city boundaries or until his legs gave out on him! Whatever came first.

A few blocks down the road Chiro saw a boy with reddish-orange hair that looked like a mix between Sparx and Antauri.

"Hi." The boy said. "Are you Chiro?" He asked.

"Yeah…? Who are you?"

"My name is Mandarin, I'm Antauri's older brother." He said, "You're kinda short to be the new leader of the HyperForce." He pointed and Chiro blushed.

"I've never heard of you." He mumbled.

"Ah, well my brothers and I had a bit of a fall out a long time ago."

"So why are you here now?" Chiro asked, getting an uneasy feeling about this man.

"Easy! I came to make amends with them! See I have a kid on the way and I don't want my kid growing up not knowing it's family. Ya'know?"

Chiro nodded softly, "Um… Okay." Chiro said as Mandarin put his arm over his shoulder as the two started walking.

"Tell me does Antauri still like gummy bears?" He asked and Chiro nodded.

"Yeah, he does." Chiro said. Why hadn't the others told him about Mandarin?

"That's so adorable. Hey, and is Otto still building things and stuff like that?"

Chiro nodded, "Yeah, he made me a little thing for my birthday." He said, part of him wishing he hadn't broke his communicator.

"Yeah? That's just like him." Mandarin said with a soft smile. "Otto and I… we used to be really close."

"Yeah?" Chiro said then thought, ' _If you were so close why haven't I ever heard of you? How did he get that scar on his face… it looks almost like something Otto's saws would do..._ ' He thought to himself.

"Yeah, tell me are you close with the team?"

"I think so." Chiro said, "We have our fights but who doesn't."

"Do they know where you are?" Mandarin asked.

"I hope not, I need some time alone." Chiro sighed, an uneasy feeling washing over him, but before he could react Mandarin pushed a long sharp needle into the front of Chiro's right shoulder. Chiro let out a choking sound but couldn't manage anything else as he felt paralyzed and was slowly led by Mandarin into an Alley where Mandarin then smiled.

"You'll have all the time in the world where you're going, my pet." He said, as Chiro lost his struggle to stay conscious and collapsed into Mandarin's arms.

"Guys, he's not answering." Nova said, worry plain on her face.

"Can you blame him?" Sparx said, "We basically forced him into telling us parts of his past that he clearly wasn't ready to share! If I were him I wouldn't answer either." He huffed, "I knew we shoulda just let the kid come out to us when he was ready." He mumbled.

Nova hit Sparx's shoulder hard, tears in her eyes. "Shut up! You're just as worried about him as the rest of us are!"

"I never said I wasn't! But the kid needs space! We can't keep forcing him into things! The kid's, well, just a kid!"

"Be that as it may, we need to go out and find him." Antauri said, his arms crossed as he looked at the monitors. He had a very bad feeling about this.

"Fine, but I'm not going to be held responsible if he throws a fit and quits!" Sparx huffed.

" _Wakey wakey, pet_." A voice pierced through the darkness, slowly pulling Chiro out of a daze.

His head was throbbing, his stomach was doing flips and it felt like they were swaying. He moaned and tried to sit up but quickly realized his wrists, upper arms, ankles and knees were all bound. He then tried to speak but was unable to thanks to a gag in his mouth keeping him quiet.

"There you are." Said Mandarin, standing above Chiro. "Did you have a good nap?"

Chiro glared and tried to pull away as Mandarin tugged the gag down around Chiro's mouth. "What do you want from me?" He hissed.

"With you? Nothing, in fact I couldn't care less about you." He said, "I am simply using you as bait for my brothers." He said and Chiro growled, "Come now, you must be used to that; that is probably the only thing you're good at seeing how short and… human… you are. You're probably useless when it comes to being the team leader."

Chiro snarled, "They won't come!"

"Sure they will, they care too much about you pathetic humans not to. But… they could take a while. Might as well make yourself at home." He said, as Chiro felt another sway he gasped. "What's wrong? Don't you like your new accommodations?" He purred then lifted Chiro by his shaggy black hair causing him to whimper as Mandarin then slammed his face against a window which caused Chiro to gasp. Once he got over the shock of tasting blood from his bloody nose he began to panic about another thing.

They were under water! He couldn't even see the sun breaking the surface! He looked all around trying to find out just how deep they were but no matter where he looked it was all dark minus fifteen feet around him which was full of strange looking fish.

"W-water." Chiro mumbled as Mandarin then tossed him back to the floor.

"Yes, a friend of mine said you just love water." He said, "I figured this would be the best place, wouldn't you agree?"

Chiro growled then spat blood onto the floor. "Socko."

"But of course!" He said happily then walked back over to Chiro, retying the gag and forcing Chiro to sit on his knees. "Now be a good boy and sit or you'll pay." He said.

Chiro growled, but not wanting to see what Mandarin could and would do to him he did as he was told.

"Good, now I have a call to make."

"We've been looking for hours Antauri, there's no sign of him." Otto said. "Do you think he left town?"

"No." Antauri said. "Even if he hated us, he wouldn't leave the city. He loves it too much. Besides, I sense he is near. I'm not sure where but he's either in the city or somewhere very close."

"Maybe he's already back at the robot." Nova said, as the five of them flew through the air looking at the ground.

Antauri frowned to himself the whole way back. This uneasy feeling was only growing worse, and with Chiro missing he couldn't help but worry about the human boy.

They went inside and were greeted to an empty robot. They checked every room, every hiding place and no Chiro. They were about to head out looking again when the computer sparked to life.

" _ **INCOMING TRANSMISSION.**_ " Said the robotic female voice.

"Chiro!" Nova said hopefully as she answered the call, Hope turned to fear though when they saw that Chiro was indeed on the screen but he looked in rough shape.

He was bound and gagged, blood running from his nose and a needle hole in his shirt. Standing next to him was a familiar orange-eyed brother with a large scar across his face and an evil look in his eyes.

" _Hello, my brothers and Nova_." He grumbled the female's name. " _I believe I have something that belongs to you?_ "

"Mandarin! Let him go!" Sparx snarled as Gibson began to try and track the video.

" _Aw but I just now caught him._ " Mandarin said, pulling Chiro's hair making him whimper in pain. " _Now, I'm guessing by now Gibson has figured out that there is no tracing this call. Antauri has also figured out that tracking Chiro by his Communicator is a bust. Otto is thinking of all the possible places he could be. Sparx is ready to run out and rip the city apart and Nova is scared that I'm going to hurt him, Which she's right, I am going to hurt him. I'll hurt him even more though if you don't do as I say._ " He said.

"What do you want?" Antauri growled.

" _Easy, I want you guys to meet me in the park at 6 oclock AM. I want to fight you, all of you for a rematch. If you beat me I'll let the boy go, if I beat you I blow up the building that I'm keeping the poor child in and I take my place as leader of the Hyper Force once again_." He said, and Chiro began shaking his head.

He didn't want the team to get hurt, didn't want them going into a trap for him. He didn't want them to agree to this.

" _Silence Pet!_ " Mandarin yelled pushing Chiro onto his face and stomping on Chiro's ribs causing him to whimper and cough.

"Chiro!" They all called.

"We'll do it!" Otto said, "Just don't hurt him!"

" _Good call, Otto._ " Mandarin said, pausing in his attack on Chiro. " _But, as you know, accidents happen. I can't fully guarantee his safety_."

"I swear Mandarin if he's not awake and kicking I'll kill you." Nova threatened.

" _Ooh, such empty threats from the Ice Queen_." He said and Nova shivered and instantly backed up behind Antauri. " _6 am on the dot or the boy dies_." He said, and turned off the communication.

"Damn it!" Sparx growled, punching the wall.

"Mandarin… He has Chiro." Nova said, "This is all our fault! If we hadn't pushed him, he would still be here! Safe! With us!" She said, "We have to help him."

"And we will, but for now get ready for the battle of your lives." Antauri said.

Chiro coughed, blood from his nose and tears from his eyes mixing before they hit the ground. Mandarin laughed softly as he kicked Chiro knocking him to his side before he ripped the gag off again.

"You told them I was a building! What are you planning!" He coughed.

"Easy, even if they win they'll be so focused on the address I give them that when I detonate the power source in this sub it'll be too late." He said, and to Chiro's surprise Mandarine untied Chiro's ankles and knees before pulling him to his feet by the ropes around his upper arms and chest.

"W-what are you doing?"

"Relax, if I'm going to keep you as a pet I want to see if you'll even be worth keeping alive." He said, getting into a fighting stance, "Fight me boy, give me your best shot."

"But my arms are still tied!"

Mandarin mocked Chiro then said, "I could have left your legs tied." He said, "Now fight me or I'll kick your ass while your legs are still tied."

Chiro frowned, but got an idea and he ran at Mandarin. He jumped in the air before spinning quickly. "Lightning Kick." He called and gasped when Mandarin held up his fist as a blue shield formed and blocked his attack.

Mandarin then grabbed Chiro's ankle and slammed him hard into the submarine wall causing Chiro to gasp in pain. Mandarin then laughed.

"Antauri taught you that. Interesting."

"H-how did you know Antauri-"

"Who do you think taught him!" Mandarin said, "All the moves the team knows I taught them." He laughed. "You cannot beat me, nor can they. Not after all these years."

"What if we taught ourselves something new?" Chiro asked, getting back on his feet with a bit of a struggle.

"Then I will adjust. They only thing they had advantage on is numbers. I have the place and time set. Not to mention I have they're precious little leader under my control. Everything is on my terms boy. Don't get your hopes up that you'll be saved. Because you won't."

"Why are you fighting your siblings?"

"Because they're traitors who tried to kill me. Turned against me after a fight to save the city." He said, "They even turned little Otto against me. Antauri is a liar who acts like he will be your friend but the second you tell them something in confidence he betrays you, tries to lock you away in a prison far, far away from home. I managed to get away but not before Otto gave me this." Mandarin touched the scar on his face softly. "He was heartbroken, but Antauri told him it was for the best and he took him, along with all the others."

Chiro didn't say anything for a minute. Would… would the others do to him what they did to Mandarin? Maybe that's what had happened earlier…

"Ah well, past is in the past and now I have a second chance. To save you before they can turn an innocent child into somebody like me. Once I kill my brothers you and I will rule Shuggazoom!"

"Why… why did they turn on you? What did you do?" Chiro asked, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"I told Antauri about dreams I had been having. Dreams about ruling over the city. They figured I was not above other humans." He sighed, "Ah well." He said again, "Now, come here." Mandarin walked back over to Chiro making him back up as Mandarin pushed Chiro down to his knees before retying his ankles and knees then gagging him again. "Rest." He said, "You only have a few hours before the fight, and I will want to train you some when I return."

' _Train me? Train me for what?'_ Chiro asked himself, his blood running cold at the thought of being stuck with this psycho for so long.

Despite what Chiro thought he did manage to fall asleep before six o'clock came though it wasn't for long for he was awoken when he felt the sub slowly begin to rise out of the water. Chiro whimpered, opening his eyes and looking out the window seeing moonlight mixed with a bit of sunrise. They were still hidden under the bridge though, hidden from the rest of the world.

"Here boy." Mandarin said, turning on a live feed of the park before grabbing the ropes on Chiro's ankles and dragging him in front of it. "You can watch as I kill your friends."He purred, "Who know's maybe I'll leave one alive so it can be your pet." He said, then climbed out of the sub, closing the airlock behind him.

Chiro hit the ground with his feet angrily. Why couldn't he do anything to save himself?! He was useless!

"Where is he?" Sparx growled, looking around the empty park. He knew how nervous and angry and betrayed Otto felt, and he was worried about his friend.

"Right here Sparx." Purred Mandarin as he walked into the light. "Glad you could join me thought maybe you would have betrayed the boy like you betrayed me. All those years ago."

"You were the one that turned evil, Mandarin." Antauri said as he glared at his older brother. "We had no choice."

"You did! All you had to see was that we were above the normal Humans! You always seemed to think yourself equal with those powerless slackers." He said, "Now you replace me with a child. You guys are pathetic."

"Where's Chiro?" Otto asked, his voice shaking.

"Safe. For now. In fact, he's watching us right now." He said, then waved to a camera on a building, "Hello pet."

"Where is he, Mandarin?" Antauri asked with a growl.

"You have to defeat me to find out." Mandarin said, his sword and Shield forming.

Nova and Sparx were the first two to charge at Mandarin, both of them letting out a yell.

"Lady Tomahawk!" Nova said, hitting the ground cracking it but Mandarin just hopped into a tree then dodging Sparx's famous 'Magno Ball Blazer!"

Mandarin laughed jumping onto Nova's shoulders before doing a backbend flipping her over and slamming her hard to the ground. He then grabbed her arm and threw her causing her to hit Sparx then both to slam hard against a tree with a whimper.

Antauri was next, slashing at Mandarin with his Ghost Claws. But again, Mandarin was too fast, managing to dodge or block all of the attacks before Mandarin turned and used his sword as he cut into Antauri's chest by only a few centimeters but it was enough to distract Antauri, giving Mandarin a chance to kick him down.

' _They need my help!_ ' Chiro thought to himself as he struggled then hissed when a sharp object dug into his arm. He looked around then smiled when he saw a loose piece of metal. He slid up a little before it caught on the shard before moving himself up and down slowly cutting through the ropes which eventually broke free. Once his upper arms were free it wasn't hard to cut the ropes on his wrists.

He grabbed the gag ripping it out of his mouth and tossing it aside before untying his ankles and knees. He needed to help them. He wasn't going to stand by and be useless anymore. He rubbed his nose again before he climbed up, opening the hatch before climbing out onto the roof with a whimper. Now that he was free though there was still the problem of getting the 40 feet from the sub to the beach, which would require swimming. Something Chiro still couldn't do.

Chiro groaned and looked around, looking for something he could use to get to shore. He frowned. There was nothing! Nothing! He huffed.

He had two choices: suck it up and help his team, or wait to be Mandarin's 'pet'. While neither sounded like a good choice he made one. He backed up to one end of the sub before running full speed, his feet clanking on the metal before he jumped off and splashed into the deep cold water.

The cold water ripped the breath right out of his lungs, and when he surfaced he took a big, gasping breath. He tried to think of what Jinmay had taught him, how she had taught him to stay afloat.

' _Stay calm!_ ' Chiro thought as he began to move his arms and kick his legs it was slow moving and was more like a strange type of dog paddle but it was doing the job.

It took Chiro what felt like hours before he made it to the shore, soaked to the bone and his body screaming in pain. Puffs of steam came out of his mouth as he forced himself to his feet and jogged to the park. He couldn't rest. Not now, he was leader, it was his job to protect them! He couldn't be out of it anymore! He had to pull himself together! No more being scared! No more saying "I'm Fine", no more! His team needed him. And he was going to be there for them.

Otto cried out as Mandarin rammed into him, making him slam into the ground. Otto coughed as he began to get up.

"You felt the same way I did, Otto. Why didn't you come with me? We could have ruled Shuggazoom City without the rest of the team dragging us down." Mandarin said.

"You said people would respect me if I followed you! I was with you until you started talking about killing anybody who stood in our way." He sniffled, getting to his feet and looking at his family.

Nova and Sparx were struggling to get up, Antauri was bleeding out, Gibson was unconscious and he was the only one left to fight the one Otto once looked up to. The boy he could say everything to was now once again trying to kill his family. Otto had to finish what he couldn't all those years ago. He had to stop Mandarin.

But how? Mandarin was too strong. Even last time, it had been a stroke of luck that he had been able to cut Mandarin's face. Otto frowned, running at Mandarin. He couldn't think about losing. He had to win. He had to.

The fight seemed faster after that as Mandarin stopped holding back.

Otto gasped as pain ripped through his stomach as he looked down seeing the blade piercing right above his left hip. Mandarin then ripped his blade out and pinned Otto down with his boot.

"Goodbye. Brother." Mandarin said, swinging the blade towards him.

"Get off of him!" A familiar voice called out as Mandarin was tackled off of Otto.

"Chiro!" Otto yelled, rolling onto his side before he cried out and pressed a hand to his wound.

"You?! But how did you-" Mandarin began as Chiro growled forming a bolt in his hand, something Mandarin was obviously surprised to see.

"Chiro Spearo!" Chiro called out, throwing it. Mandarin managed to dodge but backed right up into Nova.

"Knuckle Duster!" She called out, punching Mandarin sending him flying against a tree before falling to her knees panting and exhausted.

"Nova, are you okay?" Chiro asked, bending down as she hugged him.

"You don't know how glad I am to see you." Nova sighed softly.

"Sparx! Take care of her." Chiro said, as he turned and faced Mandarin.

Mandarin was struggling to get to his feet. "Well, aren't you full of surprises!"

"Yeah, he is." Otto said, standing next to Chiro despite his wound making blood drip down his leg.

"I'll give you two one more chance. Join me, or parish."

Chiro growled, ready to fight. "I may be short, I may be human, but I love this team-my team and my family and anybody who tries to hurt them will have to go through me."

"Gladly." Growled Mandarin as he ran at the two of them.

Otto and Chiro both managed to dodge as Chiro then kicked him in the ribs knocking him back again.

Mandarin growled, then threw his shield. Once again the two dodged, but it soon became obvious that they weren't the target as the tree began to fall behind them. Otto was unable to move and fight as he was riddled with pain. Chiro shoved Otto out of the way as the tree collapsed.

" _CHIRO!"_ Otto screamed as the tree came crashing down on the black-haired boy. Otto turned to yell at Mandarin and was filled with mixed emotions when he realized Mandarine once again made his escape. "Chiro!" Otto called running over to the tree.

"I'm fine Otto." Chiro rasped as Otto moved the leaves showing the boy who had moved enough that a branch was the only thing pinning him down to the grass.

"God, don't scare me like that again, Chiro!" Otto said, managing to move the branch off of Chiro just enough for the boy to crawl out from under it.

Chiro smiled then hugged Otto. "Let's get everybody back home." He said.

"If we can." Otto sighed, pressing against his wound again. His jeans were soaked in blood.

Luckily Gibson woke up in time to help Otto walk while Chiro helped Antauri and Sparx helped Nova. They then went into the lab where Chiro then used his little medical know-how to patch up Gibson enough to where he could then patch up Antauri and Otto who were the worse off.

Chiro noticed that everyone seemed to be mostly worried about Otto and Antauri, and not just their wounds. What had happened before, when Mandarin had been the leader? Would he end up doing the same thing?

"Chiro-" Antauri began.

"I'm sorry." Chiro said, "I should have told you about my past long ago… But now… Now I'm even more afraid. I don't know how much of what Mandarin told me what was true or not… but you know… I don't care. You're my family now and I can tell you anything… Right?"

"Right, kid."

"You can tell us anything, Chiro. We'll still love you." Nova promised.

Chiro sat down in a chair sadly as he began to explain about his past.

He told the team about living in the dog house with holes in the roof about being continuously beat by his mother and left clinging to life by his father. About the time his grandfather tried to burry him alive because his father asked him to do what he couldn't. He then told about the storm that broke the fence that kept him caged in the yard broke and that during the day he would leave and come home before his family realized he was gone. With every story the looks on the team's face became sadder and sadder but still filled with love. Even when he told them about the time he tried to kill himself but couldn't do it in the end.

By the end of it all Chiro was crying and the team just looked at him with heart broken looks. Looks of sadness that he hadn't told him any of these things in the almost three years he had been living with them and that even now he hesitated.

"Chiro…" Nova said as she ran to him, hugging him closely the rest of the team soon following until it was just one big group hug surrounding Chiro who sniffled and huddled against the rest of the team. Where he belonged.

In the end Otto and Sparx crawled into bed with Chiro the three all sleeping, and for the first time in months Chiro slept through the night and even into the morning, even after the two older boys left the bedroom and made breakfast.

While Chiro had slept soundly, Otto hadn't. Mandarin, the old Mandarin, had been in all of his dreams, and when he woke up after each one it had taken all he had not to cry. He missed the old Mandarin. His old friend, the boy he had told everything to. He thought he had gotten over it, but he obviously hadn't.

"Otto? Are you alright?" Antauri asked.

"Yeah… Antauri? Do you miss Mandarin? The Mandarin he used to be?"

Antauri's eyes softened as he held Otto close. "Of course I do, he is our brother and while he had his faults he was still our brother. You know we did everything to stop him, and not even you could stop him. You should relax, Otto. Chiro needs you now, Mandarin is fine."

"I know… I just miss him." Otto said as he began to cry.

Antauri frowned, "I as well." He said, hugging Otto even closer.

Chiro eventually woke up around two in the afternoon, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He hurt so bad from last night, but at least he had slept without nightmares for the first time in what seemed like centuries.

"Morning sleepy head." Nova said as she came in, "Perfect time, I have your lunch." She smiled putting the tray on his lap as he sat up on the bed with a soft smile.

"Thanks Nova. I'm sorry I slept so long."

"It's fine, I'm just glad you slept." She said, kissing his head. "How do you feel?"

"Like I got my butt kicked by a man with orange eyes." He laughed, "How are the others?"

"Our make up allows us to heal faster, while the wounds made have seemed bad, they're much better today, not healed all the way but still much better."

"I'm glad… How's Otto?"

Nova sighed, "He's a little shaken up, seeing Mandarin again really took a toll on him."

Chiro rubbed his arm nervously. "Um… what happened? Between Mandarin and Otto? Even with Mandarin being bad, he still spoke about Otto the most, and Otto obviously didn't take seeing him too well..."

Nova sat at Chiro's feet sadly. "It was a long time ago Otto was just beginning to notice his mechanical skills… Before then Otto was emotional and felt useless all the time saying that he would just be more helpful to the team if he was dead none of us ever disagreed or agreed we just kept quiet. Mandarin was the only one who said that Otto was the most important one on the team, and that he didn't know it yet. As time passed though… Mandarin began to turn and tried to take Otto too, saying that if Otto followed him they could take over the city and he would finally get the respect of not only the rest of the team but the entire city… Otto couldn't refuse but one day when Mandarin tried to turn us too and we refused he ordered Otto to kill us… and when he couldn't he… He did terrible things to Otto, physical and emotional things… He managed to fight off Mandarin long enough for us to break free but… for weeks after he was in a coma and weeks after that he never left Mandarin's room, it took Antauri telling Otto that Mandarin didn't really care and that we did to make him realize that he was just scared of realizing it. Gibson helped him with Mechanicing and after that… he came back to us. Went back to normal."

Chiro frowned. "Otto… no wonder he looked like he expected Mandarin to kill him…"

Nova nodded, "Yeah. Eat your lunch and then join us downstairs." She smiled, then walked out.

Chiro looked down at his food, hungry but at the same time sick to his stomach. Mandarin had crossed a line with Otto. He betrayed him almost as bad as you could betray someone. It made Chiro want to run out and hug Otto and never let him go.

Chiro eventually forced himself to eat his lunch before going down stairs again. He then joined the rest of the team in the main deck, sitting down in his seat while Antauri stood in front of the rest of the team.

"As you know attacks have become more and more common." Antauri said, "I'm afraid that this means we must be ready for anything, more now than ever. Skeleton King is becoming aggressive sending things against us and using things he learned from Socko against us. From now on if anybody leaves the super robot stick to the buddy system. And stay safe." Antauri said just as there was a loud thunk on the shoulder of the robot.

"What now?" Growled Chiro as they dashed up to the shoulder.


	7. Chapter 7: JinMay returns

Chiro and the rest of the team ran onto the shoulder all ready for a fight but Chiro's aggression quickly turned to a blush.

"JinMay!" He called, hugging the young girl tightly.

"Hi, Chiro!" Jinmay smiled, hugging Chiro back resulting in a painful hiss. "Are you okay?" She asked then gasped when she got a good look at the team.

Chiro's nose and cheek was bruised along with multiple rope burns. Nova had bandages on her cheek, her shoulder clearly wrapped up along with her stomach. Antauri was one big bandage across his chest and also had a bruise on his cheek. Sparx had a cut on his face by his ear, and his knee was tightly bandaged. Otto wasn't even wearing a shirt to hide the thick bandages on his stomach and arms. Then there was Gibson who had his head bandaged.

"What happened?!" She gasped looking over them all frantically.

"One of our bad guys surprised us. Don't worry about it, though. We're all okay." Chiro said.

"You guys look like you were thrown into a woodchucker." She said, touching Chiro's face.

"Come on, let's go inside." Chiro smiled softly.

"So where have you been, Jinmay?" Nova asked, smiling at the girl as they all made their way into the robot.

"So many places." Jinmay smiled, "I've seen so much like large Ninja Cats, Pigs on Motorcycles and Dogs who own people!" She sighed, "And it was actually the Dogs who told me my first clue about my family." She purred.

"Really?!" Chiro asked, his eyes wide. "Have you found them?"

"No, I was told they were last seen 3 years ago looking for their lost daughter, they went the other way though so I decided to stop and visit before I went there." She smiled.

"Well, it's very nice to see you again." Antauri said. "Even if we're not exactly in the best of shape."

"No kidding." She said, then looked at Chiro and smiled.

Chiro blushed then giggled, "Wanna go out on a date?" He asked before he thought about it both of them blushing and Nova going "AWWWW" in the background.

"Y-yeah, um… I-I mean, sure." Jinmay said, blushing bright red as Chiro rubbed the back of his neck.

Antauri smiled, "Keep your communicator on incase you run into trouble." He said, "And stay close. We don't know if…" He hesitated and looked at Otto before finishing, "If he is still here."

"He?" Jinmay asked.

"Yeah, when we got beat up, the bad guy kinda got away." Chiro explained, the two of them walking out of the robot and making their way outside. "He was a brother gone bad… he tried to kill Otto years ago and came to take them all out yesterday. He used me to get to them."

"What kind of a brother does that?!" Jinmay asked, obviously now fully worried about the team.

"One who wants to rule Shuggazoom and kill anybody who tries to stop him." Chiro sighed, "Point is though until we know for sure that he's gone though we're going 'buddy systems' and stuff. Honestly if I weren't with you somebody else would be. None of us are allowed to leave the robot alone." He sighed.

"Wow… well… at least you guys can stop him if he comes back, right?"

Chiro wanted to say yes, but instead he sighed, "Honestly… I'm not sure."

"Well, weren't you guys winning when you fought him?"

"No, actually we were getting our butts kicked."

Jinmay was quiet for a while, obviously trying to process what she had just been told. She was snapped out of it though when Chiro took her hand softly.

"A lot has happen since you a good thing is that I survived thanks to your swimming lesson." He laughed.

"That one swimming lesson that went terrible?" She said with a laugh.

"Yeah."

"It really helped you?"

"Yeah… when Mandarin had me hostage I broke free and we were on a sub I only had to swim a few feet but it was in the ocean. If you hadn't told me how to stay afloat I could have drowned." He said, with a soft smile.

"Well, I'm glad I could help you." Jinmay said, kissing Chiro's cheek. "Maybe I could help you some more in the future."

Chiro smiled, "I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."

Antauri watched the monitors, looking for any sign of Mandarin. If he could find him, they could watch him and perhaps they could find a weakness to use against him. So far though it looked that Mandarin left, they had checked where Chiro said he was being kept and there was nothing, no trace of where he had been kept. If he was gone though Antauri knew it wouldn't be for long.

"Hey, Antauri." Otto said, coming into the room. "Find anything?"

"No, I suspect that Mandarin has left." Antauri said.

Otto relaxed, but not completely. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Mandarin came back, too.

"Okay. Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Yes." Antauri said, kissing Otto's head protectively, "Relax."

"I-I did. Kinda." Otto said, blushing softly.

"Kinda isn't enough, I can feel sadness and worry coming off you in waves. Why don't you go cook or build, you enjoy that."

"Yeah… most of the time." Otto sighed.

Antauri smiled, "Would you like to accompany me into town? I am out of snacks."

"Yeah… maybe I'll find something I can use in something." Otto said with a small smirk.

"Maybe." Antauri said. "Let's go."

"Okay. Lemme try and put on a shirt." Otto said, leaving the room.

Antauri nodded softly, then sighed. He remembered how hard it had been for Otto the first time Mandarin had left; he had no idea how long it would take for him to heal from it this time. Physical wounds would only be a few days unlike the last time, which he hoped would allow him to heal faster mentally.

"Ready!" Otto said.

"Alright." Antauri said with a slight smile as he fixed Otto's tank top. "Then let's go."

The two boys made their way into town and Mandarin seemed forgotten by the green eyed brother as he excitedly went from booth to booth with hearts in his eyes. He loved junk, but what Antauri saw as junk Otto often saw as pieces to a puzzle that just needed to be put together. He loved to fix things, and Antauri felt that maybe by fixing things it was a way to fix himself. The more Otto look the more stuff he wanted, and Antauri couldn't argue with him so he just gave into the boys demands buying him almost everything he wanted just so that smile could stay longer, even if only just a few minutes longer.

"Antauri?" Otto asked a few hours later as they walked back towards the robot.

"Yes Otto?"

"Thanks." He said.

Antauri smiled, "No problem."

"Wow." Jinmay said swallowing some of her hamburger, "Sounds like this Mandarin guy is a real jerk."

"No kidding, and he kept calling me 'pet' I mean there's creepy and then there's super creepy, he's one of the ones that goes on the super creepy list."

Jinmay nodded, "Is that how you got those bruises on your neck?" Jinmay asked pointing to the dark bruises and Chiro frowned, touching it softly.

"Huh? O-oh, no." He said, it had been over a week since Krinkle did that but still the fading bruises were still there and still made him nervous. "A guy named Krinkle did that." He said, "He looked like a big fan to the rest of the team, but turns out he was kinda just stalking us. Don't worry though he shouldn't cause any more troubles. I hope."

Jinmay's green eyes softened, "Sounds like you've had a rough few weeks."

"Thats putting it mildly." He sighed, sliding down in his seat. "So how long are you going to stay?"

"A few days I hope, but if you need me to stay longer I can." She offered.

"As great as that sounds I know you need to find where you came from, and I shouldn't stand in the way of that." He grinned, "Just make sure that if you ever run into any problems that you call us, we'll always go help you. You're part of the family."

Jinmay blushed and nodded, "Thanks Chiro."

Otto sat in his chair in the main room, puzzling out what he could make with everything he had as Antauri watched the screens again.

"Hey buddy." Sparx said, patting Otto's back, "What's with Antauri?"

"I think he's worried about Chiro." Otto said softly, "He keeps spying on the shop he and Jinmay are at."

"Huh. Yeah, I guess after what the kid told us I'd be mega-worried too." Sparx said, crossing his arms.

Otto nodded. "Yeah... you know what the worse part is, though? Gibson looked up information he could find on Chiro's parents, and according to what he found three weeks before Chiro found us his parents just vanished off the face of the earth. Meaning that if they're not dead they could easily still be on this planet and could go after Chiro again." Otto sighed. "Who does that stuff to a kid?" Otto said, curling in a sad ball.

"Really, really messed-up-in-the-head people. Like Manda- I-I mean-"

"Like Mandarin. It's okay. You can say it, you guys don't have to walk on glass around me. I'm not a kid anymore and I know that he betrayed me." Otto pushed his hair out of his face. "Mandarin is bad and I just have to deal with that fact."

"Yeah, but… you were the closest to him. I mean, you almost went with him." Sparx said, rubbing the back of his neck. "We just, um… don't want to make it any harder for you. Y'know?"

Otto nodded and smiled, "Well I have a new leader now, and he's my best friend now. I'll follow Chiro. Mandarin is no longer my leader, no longer my friend, he's a traitor who hurt my family and if he comes back I won't hesitate. Not again."

Sparx nodded, softly rubbing his arm. "Well, um… I-I'm here if you need me, okay?"

"Thanks, Sparx." He said.

"Hey, um… could you make me a yo-yo?"

Otto smiled, "Sure thing, buddy."

"So that all happened?" Jinmay asked Chiro sadly, who nodded.

"Yeah, until yesterday nobody knew but now the entire team knows what they did. I figured I'd feel better if you heard it from me than anybody else. I come from a bad family… Meaning I wasn't made to be a Hero, I'm fighting all my DNA to fight for good and be like how I want instead of being like… like _him_." He said, slurping some of his milkshake.

"What happened to your parents?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. I saw them pack up to go camping and… they just never came back." He said, "But I don't mind. I mean I have a new family now and as long as I try to be like them instead of my real family I should be good… right?"

"Well, why not just try to be you? I mean, you're good. Even though you came from a bad place and bad people, you're a good person."

Chiro shrugged, "How do I know who I am?" He said sadly.

"Well just follow your instincts and just do what you want, and what you feel is right. Don't think about it too hard and just be you. And I have to say, you're pretty great." She said, kissing his head softly.

Chiro blushed, but he was still scared of who he was. What if his instincts were bad? What if he ended up just like Mandarin?

Chiro opened his mouth to speak but quickly jumped when thunder boomed outside. The two turned and looked as it began to softly rain outside. "We should go back to the Robot." He said.

"Good idea." Jinmay smiled, the two holding hands as they walked back to the robot, glad to see that the water wasn't rising on the ground, making them figure it would be just a normal rain storm, not like when they first met.

"So, is there anything special you want to do while you're visiting?" Chiro asked.

"Why don't we go to the beach?" She smiled, "I mean I know you won't be swimming but it's supposed to be hot tomorrow we might as well try to enjoy it."

"Well… I think if you're there then maybe I could get in the water." Chiro said with a blush as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Jinmay smiled, "Now don't push yourself."

The two made their way into the Robot where Antauri was waiting smiling when he saw the two wet from the rain but safe all the same.

"Jinmay why don't you go see if Nova has any clothes you can borrow." Antauri said, and Jinmay nodded and walked away, leaving the two boys alone.

"Did you have a good date Chiro?"

Chiro blushed but nodded, "Yeah, It's nice having Jinmay here. She wants to go to the beach tomorrow, you gonna come?"

"Of course, we all could use a break out of the robot after what has all happened lately." Antauri said, "But for now you and I need to go for Meditation Practice."

Chiro nodded softly, as the two then made their way into the meditation room.

"Nova?" Jinmay asked, making Nova look up from where she was sprawled on the bed.

"Hey, Jinmay! What's up?"

"Antauri told me to come see if I can borrow some dry clothes." She said with a soft blush.

"Oh, sure!" Nova said, hopping out of bed excitedly. "I don't really have very many skirts or dresses but you're more than welcome to borrow what I have." Nova began digging through her dresser.

Jinmay smiled as the two went through and eventually picked out white skinny jeans and a long pink t-shirt.

"There! And you'll look even cuter with something in your hair." Nova said with a wink as she began going through a box. "Chiro's gonna love this so much he won't know what to say!"

Jinmay blushed as Nova then pulled her hair into a braid with a pink bow at the bottom of it.

"Ooh, you look so much more grown-up now. Just like a little lady." Nova giggled.

Jinmay smiled softly. "I'm not sure about this." She said softly.

"Not sure about what?" Nova asked.

"About dressing up like this. I mean, I like it but what if Chiro thinks it looks stupid?"

"He won't think it looks stupid, trust me." Nova said with a smile.

Jinmay blushed and nodded softly before she pushed her hair out of her face softly. "Chiro and I are going to the beach tomorrow, will you be coming?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" Nova said with a wink.

Chiro sucked in a breath, trying to relax, but everytime he closed his eyes the face of Mandarin flashed behind his lids. He made a choking sound as the images of Mandarin and Krinkle caused his voice to get caught stuck in his throat. His eyes snapped opened quickly with a gasp as he looked around, looking at Antauri whose eyes were closed softly.

"You still aren't relaxed enough." Antauri said softly, "What is it Chiro?"

"Antauri…" Chiro said then sighed, "Are you… are you afraid of anything?"

Antauri opened his stunning purple eyes looking into Chiro's baby blues. "Chiro, everybody is afraid of something, some more than others. You fear water, Nova fears judgement, and I fear the loss of somebody I care for such as yourself." Antauri said softly, "Please relax Chiro and know that whatever you're afraid of I will never let it harm you."

Chiro blushed softly getting a familiar warm fuzzy feeling he got whenever Antauri said stuff like that. The feeling that he finally belonged somewhere and that Antauri, his adoptive father, would always be there for him. And that was enough to make his heart stop racing and let him slip into his meditative state.

As long as Antauri was with him Chiro knew nothing would be able to hurt him.

After an hour of meditation Chiro and Antauri called it a day and made their way into the main room where Chiro stopped as his face warmed up at the sight of the girl of his dreams.

Jinmay was standing talking to Nova who was explaining how their gloves work. Jinmay's hair was pulled in a long braid with a bow at the end, she was wearing a long pink t-shirt that seemed to fit more like a dress, tight white skinny jeans, and her classic pink boots. The sight of the girl smiling talking and this new look on her made his heart skip a beat.

"Chiro?" Antauri said, "You're staring."

Chiro blushed and quickly looked away from Jinmay but he caught himself glancing towards her a few more times before he finally sucked in a breath and walked over to the girl. "Hi Jinmay." He said, blushing softly.

"Oh! Hi Chiro, how was training?"

"Good. It was good." he said shyly, "I like your hair." He said, "And your outfit." He said, his face blushing darker and darker with every word he spoke. He hated being so awkward around Jinmay but at the same time he knew practice made perfect.

Jinmay giggled, "Thank you Chiro."

"Dinner's done!" Otto called from the kitchen, "I hope you guys like tacos!"

"Always." Chiro said as he and the rest of the team made their way into the kitchen sitting around the table Chiro at one end with Jinmay to his left and Nova to his right while Antauri was at the other end of the table with Gibson, and Sparx to his right and Otto to his left

"So Jinmay how long are you going to be in town?" Antauri wondered as the food was passed to each person so they could get their meal.

"A few days, maybe a week." She smiled, "I hope you guys don't mind."

"Of course not." Nova smiled.

"You are always welcome." Antauri told her.

"Yeah." Chiro grinned, "We love having you around. You can have my bed while you're here, I'll crash on the couch in Otto's room."

"Really?" Jinmay asked with a smile, "Thanks Chiro."

"So we're going to the beach tomorrow?" Nova spoke up.

"Yeah, I mean if you guys wanna come." Chiro smiled.

"The beach?! I'm in!" Otto said.

"Same, I could use some specimens for study." Chirped Gibson.

"Wouldn't miss it kid." Sparx said, "Any chance to see you embarrass yourself." He teased as he got a kick to the shins from Nova from under the table. "Ow! What?!"

Chiro blushed but nodded, "Then it's decided, first thing in the morning we go to the beach!"

More nightmares came for Chiro again that night, these ones seemed about the day ahead. Nightmares about drowning, getting pulled under the water, or getting pulled out to sea and no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't make it back to the sand. All night these plagued him and by morning he felt more ready to go to sleep than he had when he went to bed in the first place.

Luckily though Otto was oblivious to Chiro's nightmares so he didn't have to worry about to many questions from him once the dirty blonde woke up.

"Morning Chiro." Otto said, as he sat up in bed, his long hair, which normally lived in a low ponytail, was now flying around his head like a sea monster. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good." Chiro smiled, folding his blanket and putting it on the couch with a smile, "Thanks for letting me crash in here, I know I kinda threw you under the bus last night."

"No problem Chiro! It's like a sleep over! I like sleep overs!"

Chiro laughed softly and nodded before he grabbed the swimsuit he had ready on the end of the couch. "I'm going to get changed, can I use your bathroom?"

"Have at it!" Otto said, as he started digging around for his own swim suit.

Chiro nodded then walked into the bathroom closing the door behind him. Not surprising Otto's bathroom was just about as dirty as his room, but his bathroom seemed to have more oil and grease from his inventions and his constant tinkering. The smell of the oil made Chiro dizzy but decided the quicker he got changed the quicker that would be over and he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. He slipped out of his pajamas picking the cleanest place in the bathroom to lay them down before he slipped into his orange and white Swim trunks and a white tanktop.

After a moment he grabbed his pajamas and then made his way out of the bathroom and back into Otto's room where the older boy had just finished getting dressed in his green trunks with black palm trees all over them. Otto looked at Chiro and smiled before the two of them then went into the main room where the rest of the team were slowly coming in.

Antauri for once had his hair pulled in a short nubby ponytail and was wearing a black pair of swim trunks with a grey t-shirt.

Sparx was wearing a pair of red trunks with black stitching and no shirt, which allowed him to check out his muscles and show off to Nova who in reply just rolled her eyes at the brother.

Nova was wearing a black bikini with her hair pulled up in it's casual high ponytail her bangs falling in her eyes.

Gibson looked like himself but instead of the dark jeans he usually wore he was wearing dark blue swimming trunks and his white shirt.

Then there was Jinmay who was wearing a pink, purple and white swimsuit with shorts for bottoms and a matching top, she also had pink and purple sandals and like yesterday her hair was in a braid but this time the bow wasn't there.

"You look good." Chiro said to Jinmay when she walked over to him.

"You too." She smiled, "Are you excited to go to the beach?"

Chiro smiled, "Yeah." He said which while he was nervous about being by the water again he was excited, after all the fights they had been in a nice day at the beach would be nice, even if he was just sitting on the beach playing in the sand.

"Then why aren't we gone yet?!" Otto said, obviously excited to get going.

"Because we have to make sure that everybody has what they need." Antauri said, as Gibson reached into his beach bag, looking like a typical 'Beach Mom' as he dug through.

"Sunscreen for the kids, snacks, water, towels, a first aid kit…" He began to mumble before he smiled, "That should be everything!"

"Then let's go; let's go!"

The second they reached the beach Otto ran straight into the brisk water shuddering but he didn't mind. The rest of them ran into the water leaving Antauri, Sparx and Chiro on the beach.

"How's the water Nova!" Sparx laughed as Nova shivered.

"Why don't you come in and find out airhead." She hissed.

"Is it cold?" Chiro asked.

"A little." Jinmay laughed, "But it feels better than it did outside. Rather be cold than hot."

"Tell that to Sparx." Chiro grinned as Nova splashed the redhead, making him let out a shriek.

"Come on Chiro." Otto said running out and grabbing his hand. "Just come put your feet in."

Chiro hesitated but nodded and walked shakily to the water letting the water brush up to only his ankles.

"Come on, Chiro. I won't let anything happen to you." Otto said, leading Chiro deeper into the water.

Chiro gasped, shaking his head and backing up. "N-n-no, I'm fine." He said his entire body shaking. He had a bad feeling and the deeper he got the worse the feeling became.

"Aw, come on. Nothing's gonna happen." Otto said before swimming further out into the water.

"No thanks Otto." He said, "I'll just stay here." He smiled weakly, just the water brushing his knees made him feel like he was going to puke.

Otto was about to say something again when he gasped and started looking around fearfully.

"Otto?" Chiro called. A tense second passed by before Otto let out a scream and was yanked hard underwater. "OTTO!" He shouted.

The rest of the team instantly came over.

"Chiro, what happened?" Antauri asked quickly.

"O-Otto, something pulled him under!" He said quickly, forcing through the fear rippling through him as he went deeper the water hitting his chest. He cupped his hands around his mouth before shouting, "OTTO!" He sniffled then looked around wildly. He looked at the team before he sucked in a breath and plunged under.

Chiro looked around and glared when he saw a hole just under the surface, that had to be where Otto had gone. He shot back up above the water letting out a choking sound as he coughed out the salt water that had burned through his lungs.

"Hyper Force, suit up." He coughed as Nova pulled him out of the water.

Luckily for all of them Otto had packed everything, including their diving suits, which was actually a round disk that when put against one's chest turned into a full on diving uniform. Soon everybody, including Jinmay dove under the water all wearing white diving uniforms that clung tightly to their skin and a large helmet that didn't need an oxygen tank thanks to a oxygen recycling program turning their carbon dioxide into healthy oxygen once again.

Chiro held onto Nova's hand as they swam through the small hole they guessed Otto had been yanked through looking around. They were surprised to see that the small hole opened up into a huge cavern that seemed to go on forever.

Chiro frowned when he saw drag marks in the sand. Otto was fighting to escape from whatever had him.

"That way." Chiro said, pointing as he started trying to swim for himself which was more of a dog paddle than anything. Sparx laughed at the way he was swimming and Otto would have too but he was currently the reason he was swimming like this.

"Sparx!" Nova snapped, "Less laughing and more swimming."

"Yeah, yeah!" Sparx grumbled back at her.

' _It should have been you boy!'_ A voice echoed in the back of Chiro's mind making him stop and look around when he saw a familiar terrifying figure. A man made of bone and pure evil.

"Skeleton King." He growled, unaware he was falling behind.

' _What kind of leader let's his own friend get killed because he's too afraid to deal with the darkness himself. You're no leader you're a scared little kid who will get everybody around him killed.'_ Skeleton King laughed, ' _You and I aren't too different Chiro, we both like putting our needs above others, and if that get's others killed. What's it to us.'_

"I am nothing like you!" Chiro yelled, clenching his fist, then turning and swimming to catch up with the group. ' _It can't be true! Otto can't be dead! N-not because of me… No… Otto..._ ' He thought to himself, his heart racing as he began to swim faster.

Otto could see everything that was happening around him, but wasn't able to move. He could hardly remember what happened it went so fast. One minute he was trying to convince Chiro to go deeper in hopes to help him get over his fears the next second he felt something wrap around his ankle and he was yanked under into an underground cavern. He felt like he was going to drown then the next thing he remembered he could breathe again but was locked in a container of some kind, his hands strapped to his side by some kind of iron-strength slime that also coated his chest, legs and around his forehead keeping him completely immobilized.

He looked around the best he could and gasped when he saw he wasn't the only one down here. There were dozens of civilians from the surface all in clear purple egg cocoons like his. But they all seemed much weaker, thinner and kind of pale, as though the life was slowly being drained from their bodies by something.

Otto knew right then that he needed to get himself and everybody else out of there and soon.

The group soon saw another hole in front of them which led to another cavern.

"Ew…" Nova groaned.

"What is it?" Antauri asked.

Nova pointed to a spot on the cavern floor, where a mass of tentacles squirmed. "I've read too many horror stories to think that's good."

"I hate tentacles." Chiro mumbled as they swam deeper and glared through the darkness. They then gasped when they saw what was around them.

The walls of the cave were lined with clearish purple cocoons and inside each with a civilian from Shuggazoom. They swam from pod to pod until they found Otto, who was beginning to look exhausted.

"Team, start taking people to the surface, don't break their pods until they're on the beach." Chiro ordered, "Antauri, you and I will follow these tentacles and see where they lead."

"Um, shouldn't I go with you?" Gibson asked. "I could… analyze the creature? For future reference?"

"No, they'll need you on land to take care of the survivors until the paramedics get there." Chiro said, "Don't worry though we'll bring you a sample."

Gibson almost seemed to pout, but he swam off and grabbed a pod.

"Are you going to be alright Chiro?" Antauri asked as the two swam deeper through the water.

"Alright or not I'm the leader and it's my job to protect the people of Shuggazoom, even if that means facing my fears. Now lets get this over with."

Antauri just nodded, making sure to keep an eye on Chiro.

The two swam through the water following the tentacles until they found the end of them which was a large Octopus that growled softly when it saw the two of them swimming towards it.

Chiro couldn't help but shiver. He hated anything with tentacles, and the thought of fighting this one gave him shivers. He couldn't stop though, he had to make sure that this thing didn't hurt any of his friends.

Coughing Otto clung to Nova as she pulled him out of the pod and onto the sand. He shivered violently and looked at her. "Where's Chiro?"

"He's fighting the monster with Antauri." Nova said.

"He's going to need backup." Otto said, "They need help."

"What makes you say that?"

"Cuz that thing is oozing Skeleton King ooze."

"Well, we have to focus on saving you and the rest of the pod people." Nova said. "We can't go and help them."

"I can." Jinmay said.

"What's your plan, Chiro?" Antauri asked.

"Honestly, I'm not sure." He admitted, "We need to destroy it though." He growled, as evil seemed to wave off the monster.

Antauri nodded then thought, "Maybe we should attack from both sides." Antauri said with a frown, they hadn't really fought anything this big without the super robot but they didn't have much of a choice. They couldn't get the super robot through the holes into the cave and they sent Jinmay away. They would have to fight alone.

Antauri glanced at Chiro who was shaking in fear despite how hard he tried to be brave Antauri could sense his fear, could sense he wanted to be anywhere but here. Antauri wanted to leave too, but they both knew that if they didn't stop the monster now it would likely come back to cause problems later. The sooner they defeated this monster the sooner Chiro would be able to relax, and hopefully that was before the 14 year old had a panic attack about being so deep down under water.

"Alright. Pick a side." Antauri said, softly patting Chiro's shoulder.

Chiro nodded, "I'll take the left." He said, swimming.

The monster seemed agitated by their presence but it became more aggressive the closer the two of them got to it. Growling louder and more viciously with every paddle the two boys made.

Chiro frowned. Were there any weak spots? He wasn't sure. It looked squishy enough that he could probably hurt it with his Lightning Kick and Thunder Punch, but he didn't know what it could do.

Antauri and Chiro had just made it to each side of the monster when it let out a roar swinging it's tentacles. One of the tentacles swung and wrapped around Antauri's ribs and arms while another one hit Chiro cracking his mask.

"Chiro!" Antauri called out while Chiro quickly covered his mouth and nose with his hands. As fear filled his soul to the brim. "Antauri to team! Chiro's mask is broke! We need backup! I repeat! we need back up!"

A tentacle wrapped around Chiro before the creature blew a purple bubble around Chiro. Chiro sucked in a breath of air before coughing. He was then grabbed by the inside of the bubble and strapped to the wall.

"Antauri!" He rasped, tears forming as he obviously tried to be strong, but it was also as obvious that he was terrified. He then gasped as another slime arm wrapped around his mouth keeping him quiet.

Antauri watched as the life seemed to be literally drained from the boy.

"Chiro!" Antauri yelled, struggling to get out of the tentacles he was in. Antauri tried for the longest time before he croaked as the tentacles squeeze him tighter and tighter until he felt one of his ribs snap. Antauri let out a cry, still struggling. He had to keep trying to save Chiro.

"Antauri!" Jinmay called as she appeared and did a powerful kick to the tentacle holding him.

Antauri was free soon enough. "Save Chiro!"

Jinmay shook her head as she began to grow until she was the size of the Super Robot, "No, I can handle it. You get Chiro outta here!"

Antauri didn't bother arguing as he swam over to Chiro, tugging the pod away from the creature and beginning to swim back down the tunnels they had came through.

"Chiro are you alright?" Antauri asked as they made their way towards the surface.

Chiro nodded, his color slowly coming back to his face.

The two soon broke the surface, catching the attention of the others.

"Chiro! Antauri!" Nova said, quickly going out and helping Antauri bring the pod to shore.

The second the pod was on shore Nova ripped it open and pulled Chiro out.

"I'm okay. Go back up Jinmay." He coughed loudly.

"She's a robot; she'll be fine. You come first." Nova said.

"I'm fine." He promised as he laid on the sand, trying to catch his breath.

"Gibson!" Nova called, making the genius come over.

Gibson came over from a civilian and put his stethoscope to Chiro's chest. After a moment he frowned, "He's okay he has some water in his lungs but he'll be fine in time."

"Can someone _please_ go help Jinmay now?" Chiro grumbled, crossing his arms.

"I'm on it, kid." Sparx said as he and Otto quickly dove into the water.

"Now Chiro, just stay put while I check on all the other people." Nova said before she went and began checking on all the other civilians.

Chiro was too exhausted to even say anything as he just laid on the sand with a heavy sigh, warming his body against the warmth of the sand.

A few minutes later, Sparx and Otto surfaced again.

"Where's Jinmay?" Chiro rasped as Jinmay then surfaced, holding a piece of the squid in her hand. "Jinmay are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine." She said, shaking the water out of her hair. "Are you okay?"

"I'm… pretty shaken up." He admitted, "But I'll be good."

"Ooh, is that a piece of the creature?" Gibson asked excitedly as he came over.

"Yeah, I remembered you said you wanted some." Jinmay smiled softly.

"Fantastic! Well, I'll just take that from you, then." Gibson said, taking a specimen jar out of his bag.

Jinmay put it in the jar for him before she helped Chiro to his feet. "I'm going to take Chiro back to the Super Robot."

"Thank you." Antauri said, "We'll finish up here and join you shortly."

Jinmay nodded, picking Chiro up in her arms before she flew into the air and began heading to the Super Robot.

Chiro smiled at the girl who was now her normal size. "It's nice being carried and all but it's kind of embarrassing." He admitted with a shy laugh.

"Well, I'd let you fly us, but you kinda can't." Jinmay pointed out.

Chiro smiled weakly as he shuddered. His arms and legs felt like they were four-times heavier than they normally were. His head felt like it was being slammed in a door and every time he took a breath it hurt.

"Are you alright, Chiro?" Jinmay asked, noticing that Chiro didn't quite seem okay.

"I just feel exhausted." He said, his eyes slowly drifting shut. "I didn't sleep well last night…"

"You don't sleep well at all, do you?"

"No… Normally it's my fault though." He sighed, "Sorry."

"It's not your fault that you don't sleep well, Chiro. Well, unless you're staying up late or something like that." Jinmay said as she landed on the Super Robot's shoulder.

"No… I'm prone to nightmares…" He admitted as the two went inside and Chiro flopped down quickly in his chair with a exhausted huff.

"Well, do you think sleeping in the same bed as someone might help?" Jinmay asked, making both of them blush.

"U-um... It helped once when Otto and Sparx crashed in my bed with me. But I'll be okay; I just need to meditate before bed and I keep forgetting." He blushed darkly.

"Okay. Maybe you should set a timer?" Jinmay said, rubbing her arm.

Chiro smiled, "If it didn't get crazy all the time I would do that but my schedule is crazy."

"Well, do it anyway." Jinmay said. "Maybe it'll remind you to do it before bed."

"Maybe." Chiro smirked softly as the rest of the team joined them.

"I'm going to examine the monster parts in my lab. I will let you know what I find." Gibson said and Antauri nodded.

"Thank you, Gibson. Chiro, are you alright? You look quite pale."

"I'm cold but fine." He smiled. "Don't worry."

"I need a shower." Otto grumbled. "I can still feel that creep's slime all over me." He shuddered.

"Go ahead." Antauri said.

"I could use one too." Chiro said sniffing his wrist with a nose wrinkle.

He and Otto walked through the main area before making their way into the bathroom leaving Nova, Sparx, Antauri and Jinmay to talk.

"How was he? Did he tell you anything?" Antauri asked.

"While I don't like being your spy, yes… he did." Jinmay said, "He's having a hard time sleeping again." She sighed, crossing her arms softly. "I'm not sure if it was because of nightmares or because he wasn't comfortable on the couch. But if it is nightmares and he did tell you all about his past then there is something else. Probably his powers causing his senses to go crazy." Jinmay guessed softly, "I don't quite know which one it could be though. It'll be up to you to get those answers from him."

Nova nodded, "We are sorry about this Jinmay but you're the only one he'll really talk to." She admitted, "You're not only his age but you have more of a human connection than any of us do."

"Yeah, the kid trusts you more than us for some reason."

"Maybe because you're having his best friend spy on him." She pointed out, putting her hands on her hips. "He's scared of judgment and being betrayed and look what you guys are doing. You're spying on your own team leader." She said then sighed, "I'm going to take a bath." She said then walked away.

"Can she even take a bath?" Nova asked after a minute. "I mean, I know she's waterproof but I didn't know that robots needed baths."


End file.
